Burned
by Ruler Of The Darkness
Summary: i can't wait for Burned! so i made up my own!
1. Chapter 1

**My version of burned**

**Stark**

I lay there with her in my arms; I just couldn't let her go. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't. She would come back to me. She always came back, stronger and better. She was the best. She was always there for me when I needed her, now it was my turn to be there for her, she would need me when she came back, it would be heel for her. No heath, her consort, her first love.

Darius put his hand on my shoulder, 'Stark, come, let her go, we must get the Vampyre healers come to her. They can help her.' I could hear his words, but didn't he realise? I couldn't let her go. She was too important to me. I had failed to protect her earlier; I couldn't let her go now.

Darius seemed to realise I wasn't going to let go. He let go of my shoulder and went over to Aphrodite, she looked a mess, but I couldn't see her clearly due to the tears that were falling down my face, she had mascara running down her cheeks, her eyes were bloodshot. When I noticed that, I looked around at the others, they all looked pretty similar, and the twins were holding each other.

I looked at Zoey, she looked so beautiful. So at peace. My tears were falling onto her shirt; it was changing the colour a bit. But I couldn't be concerned by that now, not when I realised that I was feeling someone else's emotions... confusion… worry... then it turned to something else.. Familiarity… happiness. At least she was happy, the corners of her mouth twitched up.

She looked so beautiful. It almost hurt. It wasn't fair that she should be punished like she was simply because I was an awful warrior and had failed her. She shouldn't have to deal with Heath dieing. Her life would be so much better if I wasn't in it. She would be happy. She would have Heath and they would be together, like they were before I came along.

**Darius**

It was horrible to see the pain that Stark was going through. I couldn't even begin to imagine the pain that I would go through if it was Aphrodite not Zoey. It would be really horrible. I could see that he didn't want to leave her. If she was dead, I would have been happy to let him lay there cradling her in his arms, but I could tell that she was alive. If we could just get her to the healers. Then maybe we could bring her back. We really needed her back. If Aphrodite's vision and Karishma's poem were correct, then she was the only one who could get rid of Kalona once and for all.

Aphrodite came up to me; she put her hand through mine and squeezed my fingers. I looked into her eyes; she had tears running down them. It was causing her mascara to run, but she still looked beautiful. I tried to smile at her, but I couldn't, not with the situation that we were in. we were in grave danger. No one knew where Kalona was. If he chose to come back, we had no Stark, who was one of our greatest warriors. He would be the one that we needed most in the fight. There would be a fight; it just came down to if Zoey would be there, because if she isn't, I know that Stark won't be able to fight properly. Which will put us all in danger, and I had to so what I could to get Aphrodite out of danger... I wondered about sending her back to Tulsa, but the thought of her being away from me was painful. I couldn't be away from her, what if something happened and I couldn't get to her in time?

**Aphrodite**

I took Darius' hand. I squeezed it. He looked into my eyes. We didn't need to speak; we both had the same things on out mind. I was feeling so sorry for Stark; he was crying his eyes out. If the situation wasn't as it is, I would have made a joke about him being like a girl or something. But I couldn't bring myself to it. Not with the way I felt. Zoey was my best friend. I didn't want to lose her. She was the one who had helped me through hard times; she had been so nice to me when everyone else had been bitches. When I started thinking of our memories, of the laughs we had, the tears started to come over my eyes again. I hadn't noticed that I had managed to stop. But they were back now. I felt so weak. But I just couldn't stop the tears. Darius squeezed my hand tighter. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't stand to be here, over on the other side, there was Heaths body.

I saw that there was a sheet over a tree. I picked it up and went and paced it over heath. I couldn't stand to look at that dead face, not when Zoey was so near to looking like it too. I bent down and kissed my fingers and put them on his forehead. I couldn't kiss his head properly, no way.

I thought that to save Zoey a job when she got back. I might go and ring Stevie Rae and Lenobia and see how everything at Tulsa was. Then I thought about ringing heaths mum and dad. But I thought it was properly better coming from Z's grandma. I walked off to my room.

'Hey Aphrodite. Is everything ok with Z? She isn't answering her phone.'

'No Stevie Rae it isn't.' I told her what had happened. She was crying down the line.

'I'll come and we can cast the circle.' She wanted to come over, but I thought that it was properly best if she didn't. She should stay with her red fledglings. They needed her.

'No Stevie Rae, you stay there, there is no need to come here. We're doing everything we can for Z.'

'Ok. But you'd better ring me if anything changes.' She said. I promised her I would.

'Oh hey, do you have Zoey's grandma's number? I was going to ring her and tell her.'

'Oh, didn't you hear?' she asked. Her voice sounded sad.

**Stevie Rae**

After talking with Aphrodite, I had no clue what to do. I thought about going to find Lenobia, but I wasn't ready for that yet. So I went to find Dallas. He could always cheer me up.

'Hey Stevie Rae!' I heard Dallas call.

'Hey Dallas!' I called back. He came up and he hugged me and gave me a kiss on the lips. He could always cheer me up. We walked round the school; we stopped in front of Nyx's temple. We sat on the bench in front of it. I told him about the phone call with Aphrodite. He took it well. He said that we needed to tell Lenobia so that she could ring Heath's mum and dad. He said that it was only fair that they found out before they brought his body back.

So we went to Lenobia's office. When we saw her, she looked worried. None of the other fledglings have come out of the spell of Kalona yet. We told her about the phone call.

She said that she would ring heaths mum and dad. I was glad that she was going to do it. I couldn't of. Telling parents that their only son had been murdered. It would be the horrible thing ever. Poor Lenobia.

**Zoey**

The other world…. This cant be right. I can't be dead. I'm needed on the other side, the twins, Aphrodite, Damien, jack, Darius, Steve Rae and I couldn't even think about the pain he was in, Stark. We hadn't been apart long, but I missed him; everything about him, his smell, his arms wrapped around me, his lips on my lips… the memories we shared.

'Zo!! Hey Zo!' it was heath… I recognised him easily… I would always know that voice.

'Hey heath' he ran up to me and put his arms around me. He put his lips to mine. I wasn't in the mood. I didn't need to be here. But I didn't know how to get back.

'Zo, there is something I need to tell you before you go back.'

'What is it Heath?' I wanted to just keep him talking before I knew what would soon happen, he would be taken from me again.

'Z, its Kalona, he is evil. Pure evil. Nothing you do will change it. He has a plan to get you. He thinks that you are just going to go to him, he has set a plan in action Z, and I think, with the way you feel about him, it'll work.' He looked worried, as if he thought that he had just offended me, but he hadn't. In a way, I knew he was right.

'Heath, I'm so sorry you had to die for me to realise this. This isn't what I wanted to happen. You didn't deserve this.' I started to cry. I felt so guilty. I had taken his future away, and I had taken him away from his parents. They would be so sad.

'Z, no worries, it isn't your fault. It was my stupid fault. I should have been more careful, but hey, you better tell stark that if he doesn't look after you, he is going to get some serious haunting!' I couldn't help but laugh at heath. But I knew that Stark would look after me.

Heath and I just stood there, he looked into my eyes, I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but then he just leaned in and gave me a big hug. I felt that I didn't deserve this hug. But I wound my arms around his neck and let the kiss deepen.

Then when heath let me go, I noticed it behind him, the big glowing ball of gold; I stepped around heath and went to the ball of gold. Out of it came Nyx, she looked beautiful, in a white dress, it went to just above her knee and had no sleeves, just straps over the shoulder. 'Zoey Redbird, you have done well. I'm sorry for the loss of your consort. But do not worry; I will take good care of him until you come to be with him again.' She walked over to heath and said ' you need to say your goodbyes now' I went to heath and hugged him, he smashed his lips to my mouth, we stayed like this for about 5 minutes, then he stepped back with my favourite grin and turned to Nyx. She waved her hand and the golden ball turned to blue, she beckoned to heath to go through, he went through, as he went he turned to wave goodbye, as he slowly faded, I realised that I was crying.

Nyx put her hand on my shoulder as comfort. After a few minutes I was recovered.

'How do I get back?' I asked. I wanted nothing more than to get back to stark to hug him and just sleep in his arms.

'You must find the pieces of your soul, when you find them; you will be able to go back to your warrior.'

'But how do I know where my soul is?' I had no idea how to find it.

'You must find the things that mean the most to you, when you find them, you will be able to piece your should back together. Goodbye and good luck Zoey Redbird.'

I was then stood there alone, in the dark; I had no clue what I was going to do. That's when the light started to come, and I was in the sun it a familiar place. This was my favourite place in the world. I was so glad to be here.


	2. Chapter 2

**Stark**

The Vampyre healers were looking at Zoey; they said that she was breathing. But that it was irregular. They said that if she stops breathing we have to go to them immediately. So I was on the constant watch to make sure she was breathing. The healers had given us some pills to give to her is she wakes. I don't know what they are. And they say we have to give her water to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated.

**Aphrodite**

Stark was taking this hard. I mean, I know she was his high priestess and he was her sworn warrior and all, but still. Darius said that it was because it was like losing a part of you, that a part of yourself had died. I felt really sorry for him. I was going to go and sit with him, but when I went in, he was leaning over her and gazing into her eyes, that's when I realised why he was so upset. He was in love with her.

**Zoey**

I was at grandma's lavender farm. I recognised it instantly. I walked up the drive and up to the porch. I knocked on the door. I wondered if she would be here, because this was the other world, she shouldn't be here should she? If she was it would mean she had passed on… I was contemplating this when the door opened, grandma was there, she looked so much better than the last time I had seen her, her cuts were gone, she had her colour back and she just looked really good. I then realised the reason she was there. 'NO!!' I shouted. 'You shouldn't be here! It wasn't your time!' she looked at me with knowing eyes.

'It was my time to go u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. I have gone to the place where my friends are.' She looked happy, but I could tell she wasn't.

'But you were recovering. You were getting better. You were with Sister Mary Angela.'

'That nun was a great woman. When you go back, thank her for me. She did very well in caring for me. She made my last moments comfortable.'

I was lost for words. I couldn't think of what to say. Grandma the broke into my thoughts.

'How did you know that I was here?' she asked.

'I didn't. Nyx brought me here. He brought me here when Heath – when heath- when heath… when he... when he died. When Kalona killed him. I came here with him. And I don't know how to get back. Nyx said that my soul had shattered into pieces, and that I just needed to find the pieces. She then disappeared and I was here. I guess a piece of it is here. With you.' It was hard for me to start talking, but once I started, it wasn't so bad.

Grandma saw that it was hard for me, and she put an arm around me. 'I'm very sorry for your loss. I know that you loved Heath very much. But i'm sure that the goddess will look after him very well. Just as she looked after me.'

'Yeah. But I don't know how to get my soul back grandma. I need to get back. Who knows what Kalona is doing?'

'You must drink my blood. That is how you get your piece of soul back. I believe that is Heath, Aphrodite, Erik, Stark and I who have pieces of your soul.' Oh great. I would have to see Erik.

'Oh.' Was all that I could come up with. When I saw grandma, I knew what I had to do. I took my nails and sliced it on her wrist. I licked the cut and then the drive for blood kicked in. but I could stop myself. I told the saliva on my tongue to heal and I licked the cut and it stuck itself back together.

I felt myself warm up around my head. I knew that the marks on my arm were back. Grandma smiled at me. 'It is time for you to go now u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. I shall see you soon. I love you and good luck.' A tear came to her eye. I didn't want to leave her. This was my favourite place in the world. This was like my home.

'How do I find heath?' I asked because I had no clue where he was. I just knew that he had been taken in the ball of light. I was starting to get excited. I knew that this meant that I would see heath again, and that pleased me.

'I believe that if you just shut your eyes and follow your heart, your imprint will take you to him.' I hugged her tight; she kissed me on my cheek. I turned and heard the door shut behind me. I shut my eyes and just let my mind go blank. I thought of one word and one word only. Heath. I felt my feet lift off the earth and land somewhere. I opened my eyes and I was on a beach. Sitting on a rock a little way away, with his hair blowing in the wind, was my consort.

**Heath**

When I walked through the orb. My body went warm. It felt all tingly. I was sad, that might be the last time that I ever saw Z. I would miss her so much. Then a voice came out to me 'hello Heath. It is time for you to pass through. Where would you like to go to for your last resting place?'

I had to think for a while. I decided the beach a little way away, where my mum and dad had taken me since I was a kid. While I had been thinking about it, my eyes had shut. When I opened them, I was on the beach. The sun was setting. It looked so beautiful. The sun was turning the water a pinkie and orange colour. There was a big rock just ahead. So I walked over to it and sat down looking out to the sea.

While I sat there, I couldn't help but think of the memories I had here. The times mum and dad had come here with me, of the hours we spent here. Of the last time that we were here, all those years ago, I had stopped coming, so that I could hang out with Z. that was when I heard someone approaching. I turned and saw the most beautiful thing that I had seen for days.

**Aphrodite**

The nerd herd wanted to go in and sit with Zoey. We were all in the hall. ; you can't go in. just give stark some space.'

'We all miss her. We want to see her' one of the twins had said.

'Just give stark time. He needs to be with her.'

'We all want to be with her.' The other twin said

'Jees! Are you totally blind!! He. Is. In. love. With. her.' I pronounced it slowly since they never seemed to notice it.

I heard little gasps as they suddenly noticed.

'Oh my' said one twin

'Goddess' said the other.

They all turned and went down the hall. All talking. I suddenly noticed that my warrior was still with me. ' that was a very lovely thing that you did for Stark.' He said.

'yeah, I am cabable of being nice sometimes you know.' I snapped.

' I know.' He said. He smiled and pulled me into a tight hug. We walked back to my room with his arm around my waist. I leaned against his side and we just walked and talked. ' do you think she is coming back?' I asked Darius.

' I don't know. I hope so. We are really going to need her in the next few days. I belive that she is the only one who can defeat Kalona.'

' I miss her so much. I want to talk to her and just discuss stuff.' I said

'You could discuss things with me.' He said. I laughed and then we went back to our room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Zoey**

I saw him on the rock. He was looking out at the sunset. I hadn't noticed the sunset. I looked at it. It was beautiful. The pink and orange were coming through and were hitting the water and making it look pink and orange. It was so beautiful.

I walked to Heath. The sand was squelching through my toes. I looked down. The sand was coming through; it was going over my newly painted toes. I went to Heath. I climbed up on the rock next to him. He wrapped his arm around my waist. I stayed looking at the sunset, I wasn't ready to look at him yet, and I wanted the time that we had to last longer.

When I looked at Heath, he was looking into my eyes; he had a big goofy grin on his face.

'Hey heath' I said

'Hey Z' he said and he gave me a big slobbery kiss on the cheek. 'I thought I was never going to see you again.' He said. He looked really sweet. I started crying. He pulled me into his chest. I sat there crying onto his shirt in his arms. Heath was my home.

'How come you came back?' he asked.

'My soul shattered when I tried to save you. I have to find all the pieces of it to get back to the other world. So that I can go back to my friends and defeat Kalona. And apparently, you have a piece of my soul.' I said

He seemed to like the fact that he had a piece of my soul. He smiled his biggest grin. I couldn't help but join in with it. 'How do you get your piece of soul that I have?' he asked me. I raised my eyebrows. He seemed to notice. He took his penknife out of his pocket and drew a cut across his neck.

I leaned into him and licked the line of red. It was like an explosion in my mouth. I told my brain heal and then licked the line again. It sealed itself up to just become a thin slightly pink line.

He smiled at me. Then I felt the heat radiate down my arms. I grinned. I knew that my tattoos there were back. I pulled up sleeves, they were there. I smiled and looked up at Heath. He grinned at me and kissed me on the lips.

'Goodbye Z' he said and kissed me on the lips. I didn't want to go. But I knew I had to.

'Bye Heath. I'll see you again soon.' I said. I knew that I wouldn't see him. But I tried to smile. But my tears were coming over my eyes. I couldn't hold them back. He hugged me in tight. I then jumped down off the rock and into the sand. It squelched between my toes.

Behind me I heard heath saying 'I love you Z' I turned and smiled at him.

'I love you too heath' I turned and shut my eyes. I let my mind go blank. I thought of one word. I didn't want to go there. But I had to. _Erik._

I felt the world spinning, and then my feet hit the ground. I opened my eyes and I was in Erik's room in the teachers building.

**Stark**

I was sat there with Zoey. I hadn't left her all night. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was desperate for the loo though. I wasn't going to leave her till Darius came though. I wondered if Kalona could still get into her dreams. So I wasn't going to risk it. Not when I couldn't wake her up.

Darius came in then. Thank goddess. He smiled at me. 'Any change?' he asked.

I felt my eyes fill with sadness. 'No change. She has a smile though.' I looked down at her. She seemed happy at least. 'I need to go to the bathroom. Can you just watch her for a minute?' I asked him.

'Yeah I'll watch her. Don't worry. Take the time you need, you can have a shower and get changed. If you wanted, you could go to your room and get some sleep.' I shook my head.

'I'll have a shower. But I don't need sleep. I'm fine.' I said. What if she woke up when I was gone? She might think that I had deserted her. She might be mad at me. I wanted to be the one she opened her eyes too. I went straight to the shower. I was really quick. I came out and got changed. I went straight back out and sat by her side.

Darius looked at me. 'You must be hungry.' He said. It wasn't a question. But it felt like it was. So I nodded. 'I will go and get you some breakfast.' He said. He turned and walked out the room. He was being so nice to me. I didn't deserve it.

I looked down at Zoey. When I looked at her, I noticed that she had a tear coming from her eye. I wiped it away and looked at her. I didn't like to think that she was sad. Not when she had already suffered so much.

I tried to shut my emotions off. So I listened out for Zoey's feelings. I tried searching. I thought one word _Zoey. My high priestess. _I felt a flicker of something. Sadness. I wasn't sure if it was from her or from me. But I wondered. I thought it was her. I hoped it was, because that would mean that the girl that I love was there. That made me smile.

Then Darius came in. he looked at me then to Zoey. 'Is there any change?' he asked. He walked over to her side. He looked at her.

'Not really. She had a tear earlier though. That must be a good sign right?' I asked him. 'Then when I tried to find her emotions, I felt sadness. It didn't come from me. So I think she is slowly coming back.' I couldn't help but be hopeful. I knew it was unlikely that she would come back. But I just couldn't help hoping.

'Yes. I believe this to be a good sign. Keep listening for more emotions. She may be getting her soul back.' I smiled at this. I really hoped she was coming back. I missed her so much.

I hadn't noticed that Darius was carrying a tray. He put it on the bedside table next to me. 'You need to eat. Here is your breakfast. I am going to go and find Aphrodite and make sure she is ok.' He walked out of the room. He was such a nice guy.

On the tray was some bread with eggs on it. I ate it quickly. I was really hungry. The food made me really sleepy. So I climbed into the bed with z. on top of the blanket and shut my eyes. I fell asleep instantly.

**Darius**

I left stark. I felt very sorry for him. I would be distraught if Aphrodite was in the bed instead of Zoey.

I missed Aphrodite. Which was silly. I hadn't been away from her long. So I went to our room. I found her there spread out on the bed. She was asleep. She had been very tired lately.

I went over and sat on the bed next to her. The movement woke her. Her eyes opened slowly. 'Hello handsome.' She said with a smile on her face.

'Hello beautiful.' I smiled at her and kissed her. It was so nice to have her in my arms where she belonged.

'Any change in Zoey?' she asked. I smiled. She took it wrong though. She jumped up. 'Is she back?!' she shouted.

'No. but Stark felt some emotions that weren't his. And she had a tear. It isn't a lot. But I think her should is slowly piecing back together. I believe that she is trying to find her soul and coming back to us.'

'I hope she comes back soon. I miss her.' She said. I knew that Zoey was Aphrodite's best friend. I felt very sorry for Aphrodite to lose her best friend.

'I'm going to go and take a shower and get changed. You can go and do whatever.' She said. She got out of bed and went to the bathroom. So I decided that I would go for a walk.

**Aphrodite**

I went for a shower. I missed Zoey so much. She was my best friend. The others wouldn't be the same without her here. She was the one who kept me in their group.

I stayed in the shower for a very long time. I hadn't noticed that the water, which had been boiling hot, was now cold. So I turned the water off and got out the shower. I wrapped a towel around myself. I went into my room and went to the wardrobe. I put my favourite jeans on. They were nice and tight and made my bum look great. I then put on a tight top that made my curves look great.

I walked out of my room. The maid would come soon so it would be tidy when I get back. I was just wandering aimlessly. I walked straight into someone.

'Oh. Sorry.' I said. I looked up. I hadn't realised who it was until I looked at them. It was one of the twins. I think it was Shaunee.

'Oh. Don't worry. How are you?' she asked me. I was surprised she wasn't being mean. They didn't like me very much.

'I'm alright. I miss Zoey.' I said.

'We all do. You should come back to our room. I think they are all there now.' She was being so nice. So I walked with her. I hadn't been to their room before.

I went in. it was big. Not as big as mine, but big. I knew that they had rich parents. But I had never really been bothered. I walked on through. They were all there. Damien and Jack were sat on the bed holding hands. The other twin, Erin, was sitting on a sofa. Shaunee went over and joined her. She said something, but I was listening. I was looking around, and then when my eyes met his, my heart skipped a beat.

Darius was here. I smiled. He motioned for me to come over to him. So I walked over and sat in his lap. He gave me a hug and a quick kiss.

'So, as we were saying. Zoey has started gathering bits of her soul. If we knew how many bits the soul was in, it would be so much easier to know how long it would take. She has taken a day to get this back, if she keeps going at this rate. She may be back by the end of the week.' Damien said it, he was the clever one.

'Do you think she will be able to find it all?' it was Jack who asked. 'Because, I think that a bit of her soul is with Heath. What if she can't find him, I mean, he died.' Jack was struggling to keep speaking. Damien wrapped an arm around him.

'Zoey is in the other world. So is Heath. I believe that she will be able to find him.' My warrior. I always knew his voice. It made me smile when I heard that sexy voice.

**Shaunee**

Erin was still upset about Zoey. She had cried in the night when she thought I was asleep. I thought that I had better give her some space. She hadn't been asleep long. So I went out into the gardens. I bumped into somebody when I was out there. It was Aphrodite.

I had brought her back to the room. I had been heading back there. Apparently everyone was there. Erin had text me.

I sat with Erin. She had big red eyes. It was hard for all of us. We all missed her. And now, Aphrodite won't let us in to see her, because she thinks that we need to give stark time to grieve. He was in love with Zoey. It had been so obvious. I couldn't believe we hadn't noticed it before.


	4. Chapter 4

**Stark**

Darius had come to see me this afternoon. Everyone had met up; they think Zoey will be back soon. I really hoped that they were right. I missed her so much. She was my best friend, she was the one who helped me when I really needed her, and she was the girl who I thought that I might have fallen in love with. When I looked into those beautiful brown Cherokee eyes, all I felt was love. I just wanted to protect her. But I knew that when she came back, she might not want me, because I had failed her as a warrior, she had lost the person she loved most in the world, because I had been stupid and I had left her when she needed me most.

'You look better. Have you had some sleep?' Darius asked me.

'Yeah. I got an hour or two earlier.' I felt better. 'How come the others haven't come to see Zoey?' I asked. No one had tried to come see her. I was glad. I liked being the one here with her, but don't get me wrong, their her best friends, i'm sure she'd love to see them.

'Oh. Aphrodite thought it may be best if you had time alone with Zoey. As your souls are linked by your warriors bond.' Aphrodite did something nice for me? Wow. That was so unlike her. I'd have to find a way to thank her.

'Hey, err, I've been thinking, if Zoey is getting her soul back, then why haven't any of her marks come back?' As I asked I looked at her. She just had her fledging mark.

'I've been wondering the same thing.' Darius said. 'I believe that it is because Nyx gifts your soul, not your body, and as Zoey's soul has left her body, her marks have to. But I'm sure that when her soul comes back, she will get her marks back.' I thought about that for a moment, I was sure that he was right.

'Oh. Ok. The others can come in if they want. I know that it would mean a lot to Zoey, to know that they were here with her. I think that I might go for some sleep. So it would be great if they would. I don't want her left on her own.'

'I will tell them. I'm sure that they would be glad to help you.' He turned around and left the room. While he was gone and I was waiting, I decided that I would see if I could feel anything from Zoey.

So I shut my eyes and just thought _Zoey. My lady. _For a few minutes, I felt nothing. But then, after a few minutes of searching, I found her. It made me so happy to feel her thoughts.

She was worried about something, and nervous. I wondered what she was nervous about. She should have nothing to fear, she was the bravest person I knew. She was far braver than me, maybe not braver than Darius, but she was still brave.

**Zoey**

I opened my eyes, Erik was in his bed. I didn't want to wake him, he might get mad. But I didn't know how long he'd been asleep, and I didn't want to be here long, I wanted to get this over and done with.

So I went to the bed and shook his shoulder. 'Erik?' I spoke quietly, but he still heard me. He sat straight up.

'Huh? What?' he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at me. He had confusion on his face. I smiled tentatively. I knew that this must be a shock for him.

'What are you doing here?' he asked. He sounded rude. I didn't like that.

'I'm not. Not really. Believe me; I'm going to be here for a short a time as I can. When heath died, my soul shattered, and now, I have to find it again. I think that you have a piece of my soul. So now I'd like it back. Please.' I said.

He looked confused. 'Why have I got it? I clearly didn't mean much to you'.

'You did mean a lot to me. You just got on my nerves. I don't know why it went to you.'

'How do you get it back?' he asked. I guess he just wanted to get this done so that he could get back to sleep.

'That's the thing. I need to drink from you.' Shock flitted across his face. But he made a cut across his arm. I bent my head and licked it. When I felt the warmth down my back I knew it was plenty. So I told my brain _heal _and the cut just turned to a pink line.

'Thank you.' I said. You have helped me.' I said.

'How do you know?' He asked

'Because I felt my marks come back to me.' I said. I knew I didn't have long left, so I thought that I might as well be truthful.

'Where?' he asked me.

'They are on my back.' I said to him.

'Can I see them?' he asked me. I was shocked that he had asked.

'Err, ok.' I lifted my shirt up at the back and turned around so that he could see them.

'Wow. They're beautiful Zoey.' He said. I felt his hand come onto my back and work its way up until it was just below my bra. I was shocked. I turned around; his hand was just below my breast. I pushed it away and pulled my top down to cover myself up.

Now that I had that bit of my soul I thought that it must be time to leave.

'Goodbye Erik.' I said.

'Bye Z' he pulled me into a hug and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I turned and left the room. It was weird being back at the House of Night. I hadn't been here for ages. It made me think of Stark.

Then I shut my eyes. I wondered if I should go to Stark now. It would be really nice to see him. But I remembered that it was Aphrodite who I was friends with first, so I thought that I had better be there.

So I shut my eyes and just let my mind go blank. I thought of one thing _Aphrodite._

I felt the world spinning around me, and then my feet hit the ground. I opened my eyes and I was in Aphrodite's suite.

**Aphrodite**

Darius came into my room. He said that Stark wanted some sleep, so everyone was going to go and see Zoey and be with her while Stark got some rest.

'I think I'm going to stay here. I need to catch up on sleep. Plus I'm going to text Stevie Rae; nobody has told her really what is going on here. I mean, Zoey is her best friend.'

'Ok. That is fine. I'm going to go and tell the others, and then i'm going to sit with Zoey. I think it will make Stark feel better if I am there to protect her.' He was so sweet and caring. He walked over to me and kissed me. I put my arms around his neck and took a step back towards the bed; he understood and took a step the other way. I groaned. 'Still not yet? Come on!' he laughed.

'Ahh, Aphrodite, you know I want to, but no. Not while this is going on with Zoey. When she comes back to this world. I promise we will.' I had a pout on. I could feel it. He looked at me and laughed. 'You are so sweet' he said and kissed me again. Then he turned and left the room.

So I picked my phone up and text Stevie Rae.

_Hey Stevie Rae. How are things going at the house of night? Everyone still under Kalona's spell? Zoey has no change. But we think that she is trying to get her soul pieced back together. They think she might be back by the end of the week __ I have missed her so much._

_Text me with news. See you when we come back._

_Aphrodite. X_

I didn't have to wait long for a reply.

_Hey Aphrodite. Erik came to see me. Apparently Z came to see him. But she was spirit. She said she was trying to piece her soul back together, and that he had a piece of her soul. So she drank from him and left. He said that when she had drank from him; she got her marks on her back. Apparently the one on her head around her fledging one was already there? And ones on her arm. I think that they are from her grandma and Heath._

_Stevie Rae. X_

Wow. She had gone to Erik? He had a bit of her soul? If that was what it was, then she would defiantly have to go to Stark. He was linked to her soul. It would please him to know that he would see her soon.

I sent him a text.

_Hey Stark. Come to my suite. Urgent._

_Aphrodite. X_

I got no reply, so I wondered if he had his phone on him. But, after a few minutes, there was a knock on the door. I opened it and there was Stark.

'Hey Stark' I said. He looked really sad.

'Hey Aphrodite. What was so urgent?' he asked. I smiled, I was so glad that this would cheer him up.

'Stevie Rae text me. Apparently Zoey has been to Erik, well her spirit; he said that she said that he had a piece of her soul. O she drank from him and left. She got her marks on her back, head and arms back. We think that they are from her Grandma, Heath and obviously Erik.' I said. I was grinning like a moron now.

He hadn't cheered up though. 'And? So what. She drank from Erik? Big whoop.' He was sad. Then I realised why. He was jealous of Erik. She had gone to Erik not him.

'don't you get it. She was with him and Heath; they have a bit of her soul. But so do you. That means that she will come to you. She needs the bit of soul that you have. This means that you get to see her. You should be happy. You've been all depressed lately without seeing her. But now you get to.'

He suddenly seemed to realise that. 'Yeah I guess. I'm going to go to sleep. I'm tired. You going to go and sit with her?' he asked.

'nah. I'm going to get some beauty sleep. You get a good night sleep.'

'Thanks Aphrodite. Bye.' He turned and shut the door.

So I went and sat on the bed. I decided to go to bed. So I went and got in the shower and then got into my PJ's and got into bed.

I was pretty much asleep before my head hit the pillow.

**Stark**

I was so pleased. If Zoey was finding her soul, that meant she would have to come to me. I was really pleased. I missed her loads. I hadn't thought that she would have to come to me to get the piece of her soul. But I was really excited.

If Zoey got her soul back by drinking from you. Then that would mean that she would have to drink from me. That had me really happy. I had always wanted her to drink from me.

So I went to my room, it was just down the hall from Zoey. I thought about popping in and giving her a kiss goodnight. But id decided not to. Her friends were with her.

So I just went in and had a shower and put on my pyjama bottoms and got into bed. I was so tired. I wondered if Zoey would come to me in my dreams. I hoped she did. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was. When I shut my eyes, I was instantly asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Zoey**

I opened my eyes and I was in Aphrodite's suite. It was huge. So much bigger than the one that I was given. So unfair. Just because her dad was the mayor.

I looked around. It had an en suite, but so did my room, but my bathroom didn't have a shower that was absoloutly huge and then a Jacuzzi bath. Some people get everything. She had a big mirror. I went up to it and looked in. I looked awful. I wondered if my body looked the same. I really hoped it didn't.

I went back out and went to the wardrobe. It was walk in. it was so full. Everything was squeezed in. she was so lucky. I cam out and saw Aphrodite in bed.

She looked so peaceful. I went over and sat beside her. I didn't want to wake her. I knew that she would be cranky if I woke her. But I wanted to get her done, so that I could go and see Stark.

I pulled her shoulder and said 'Aphrodite. Wake up.' She opened her eyes and looked at me.

'What the hell are you doing here? You should be with Stark.' She smiled though. 'But I'm glad you're here. I've missed you so much.' she hugged me. I laughed.

'I missed you too. Imp only here because you have a piece of my soul. I don't know why it went to you. But it did. So I kind of need to drink from you' I looked nervously at her.

She smiled and said. 'Go ahead. But then go se Stark. He is devastated. He is going to be so pleased to see you. But I must warn you, he is pretty bummed that you went to Erik.' She said it. Id dint get why. So I had a question mark look on his face.' he is jealous Z. don't you get it? He likes you. A lot. I'm pretty sure he is in love with you.'

'Wow. Oh well. I will deal with that in a bit. Right now I need to drink from you. Then I can go and see Stark.' I smiled.

'Fine.' She said.

I took her wrist and sliced my nail across it. The blood came out of it. I licked it. Her blood wasn't as good as Heaths. I felt my legs get warm. So I knew that I had had enough. So I told my brain _heal _and licked the cut. It turned into a thin pink line.

'Thank you.' I said. I smiled at her.

'Your welcome. Now go find Stark! He misses you like crazy!' she hugged me and all but pushed me out of the door.

I was so excited. I was pretty much jumping up and down. I was going to see Stark. After a few minutes I was calm enough to shut my eyes and just let my mind go blank. I thought of one person. _Stark. My warrior. The person I love._ Wow. It was so good to say the person I loved. Oh, wait, I was letting my mind get full... I need to stop thinking. So I tried again. _Stark. My warrior. The person I love. _I felt the world spinning around me. When my feet hit the floor, I opened my eyes immediately and searched the room. It was his bedroom. When I saw him in the bed I had the biggest smile on my face and my heart missed a beat. He looked so good.

**Darius**

When I left Aphrodite I went to the twin's room. I knocked. I heard something moving then Shaunee opened the door.

'Hey Darius.' She said. She looked so sad. I felt so sorry for her.

'Hello Shaunee. May I come in?' I asked her.

'Of course you can. Is everything ok?' she asked. I looked around the room for Erin.

'Erin went for a walk. She is still really upset.' She noticed me looking.

'Stark has gone for a sleep and he would like someone to sit with Zoey. I thought that you and Erin might like to be withering her. I know you miss her.' She smiled.

'Yeah. I'll text Erin and then get my coat and go and sit with Zoey, thanks for coming to get us.' She said. She seemed much happier at the thought of being able to see Zoey.

'it is ok. I am just going to go and get Damien and Jack and tell them. Then I shall join you and sit with her.' I said.

'ok. That is fine I'll see you when you get there.' She picked up her jacket and put it on. Then walked to a chest of drawers and picked up her Iphone 3GS. She started texting. I then walked out the door. She came with me.

We walked down the hall. When we were outside Jack and Damien's room I stopped. 'Do you want to come in? Or just go straight to Zoey?' I asked her.

'I will just go straight there. Then stark can go and get some sleep. He must be really tired.' She smiled and me and walked off.

I knocked on the door. It didn't take long to get a reply. Jack opened the door. He had bloodshot eyes.

'Oh. Hey Damien.' He said.

'Hey Jack. Can I come in?' I asked. He nodded and walked back into the room and turned and sat on the bed. I followed him in. 'where is Damien?' I asked.

'He is in the shower.' He said.

'Oh ok. Stark has gone for a sleep and he would like someone to sit with Zoey. I thought that you and Damien might like to be with her. I know you miss her. Shaunee and Erin have gone as well.'

'Yeah. Ok. I will wait for Damien to be done in the shower and then we will come down.'

'Ok. I am going there now. I will see you soon.'

**Aphrodite**

Zoey had come to see me. It had been so great to talk and see her. She hadn't looked great, but still, it was her. It was so great. I was very surprised that I had a piece of her soul. I mean, we were friends, but we weren't like really close.

But at least I saw her. I wondered if Stark would tell me if she had come to see him. I hoped he would. I felt that me and him had grown close since coming to Italy. I mean, I'd been nice to him.

Once Zoey had been, I was too awake to sleep. So I decided that I would text Stevie Rae, she would be pleased to hear that I had seen Zoey. But then I wondered if she would be offended that I had a piece of Zoey's soul when she didn't, when they had been friends since the beginning and Zoey had given her her humanity back.

But, I decided Stevie Rae would be glad to hear that I had seen Zoey. So I text her.

_Hey. Guess what!?! Zoey came to me! Apparently I had a bit of her soul. She is going to Stark now. Because he holds a piece of her soul. I think he is in love with her! I can't wait to see what happens! _

_Text me back._

_Aphrodite. X_

It didn't take long for her to text me back. She didn't seem cross. So I was really pleased by that.

_Hey. That is so great! Was she ok? Was she sad? I know! There is so something going on with her and Stark! I can't wait to see what happens then! They would make such a cute couple! But wouldn't his warriors bond mess it up? _

_Text back!_

_Stevie Rae. X_

She had so many questions. I was so glad that she wasn't cross about Zoey not going to her. I text her back.

_She was ok. She was really excited to go, because she was then going to go and see Stark…*wink wink*. The warriors bond won't make it different, I mean, look at me and Darius, he is my warrior and my boyfriend. It hasn't messed it up for us. It has made it great. He is so into protecting me._

_Aphrodite. X_

She knew that I and Darius were going great, so why would that make her think that Zoey and Stark couldn't be together, a warrior and his Lady.

I was awake now. There was nothing to do. So I got out of bed and had a shower and brushed my teeth and got dressed.

When I was changed, I remembered that Darius had said Stark was going to go to bed, so I went to Zoey's room and sit with her. Then I could tell the others to stay away from Stark till he went to them, and tell them about how I had seen her. I smiled. I was still really pleased to see her; I had thought that I would never get to see her again.

When I went into Zoey's room the twins were there, deciding on what outfit to out her in. Damien was reading her a book and Jack was just sat there holding her hand. They all cared so much for her. I went to the twins.

'Eww. You can't put her in that!' I said. They were going to make her look horrid. How could they expect Stark to love her in that?

'What? This is designer.' Shaunee said.

'It may be, but it is disgusting. I mean, come on... those jeans? Come on, who would want to wear them? But those boots… wow! They are so nice! She would love them!' we laughed. 'Come on. Let's find her something nice to wear'

'Yeah. Let's try your wardrobe.' Erin said it. They giggled.

'Fine. At least she will be in something nice.' I said.

We left to find something for her to wear. When we were in my room, I told them about Zoey coming to me.

'Wow! That's so cool! I hope she is back soon! I miss her!' Shaunee said.

We found her such a nice outfit. It would look so good on her. A white strapless top and this really nice pair of black jeans.

'Your boots would go really well with this outfit' I said.

'Yeah. Let's go chuck the others out and dress her. We all laughed and smiled.

When we changed Zoey, we saw that she had a smile on; I guessed that her spirit was with Stark. The others saw me smiling.

'What's so funny?' Erin asked.

'She is smiling. I think her spirit is with Stark. She was really excited about going to see him. 'I smiled.

'They would make ...' Shaunee said

'Such a cute couple!' Erin finished. We all laughed again. I was in such a good mood today after seeing Zoey. She had really cheered me up.

'Do you think her and stark are together now then?' one of the twins pulled me out of the day dream that I was in.

'Huh. Or err, yeah I think so. I mean, he is her warrior. He is linked to her soul. So she will have to go and see him sooner or later. Plus, when she came to see me. She was pretty excited. I'm guessing that is who she is going to next. We'll see, when he comes back he'll be pretty happy. I mean, look at how sad he has been while she has been in the other world.'

'Yeah. I guess. I can't wait. When he wakes up, i'm going to make him tell us everything.' Shaunee said. I wondered if it upset them that they didn't have a piece of Zoey's soul. But I didn't know them very well. So I might be wrong, and I didn't want to ask, encase I made them mad at me, I mean, they were being so nice since Zoey went to the other side.


	6. Chapter 6

**Zoey**

When is saw him in the bed. He looked so good. I walked over to him. When I got closer, I could see the bags under his eyes, they were black. He looked so tired. I wondered if he had had any sleep at all. So I decided that I would let him sleep. I wanted to be here for as long as I could.

'Zoey.' He said my name! Was he awake? I looked at him. He was still asleep, he was dreaming about me! The biggest smile spread across my face. I walked closer to him. All that I wanted to do was go up to him and hug him. But he just looked so tired. I couldn't.

There was a chair in the corner of the room. So I went and sat in it. I wasn't tired. Which was good. So I just sat there and watched him sleep. The sun was rising, and the blind was pulled down. He was so reckless. I got up out of the chair and went and shut the blindfold.

The noise seemed to have woken him. 'Zoey?' he asked. I thought he was still asleep. So I just waked back to the chair. 'Zoey?' he repeated again. I looked at him. He was climbing out of the bed and walking over to me. I smiled.

'Hey Warrior.' I said. He looked at me, then the biggest smile that I have seen spread across his face and he ran the rest of the space of the room and pulled me into the biggest hug I had ever had. I hugged him back. It was so good to be back in his arms after being out of them for so long.

'I have missed you so much. It hasn't been the same going to bed without you snoring or kicking me.' He smiled the cocky grin I loved.

'I do not snore.' I said. But I laughed and hugged him again. 'I missed you so much!' I said. He pulled me more tightly against him and kissed the top of my head.

'Are you back now?' he asked. I knew what he meant.

'No. but I have most of my marks back now.' I smiled.

'Which ones?' he asked. I lifted up my shirt and turned around.' Their from Erik.' I heard his jaw clench. I turned around and he looked so sad. I stepped towards him and looked up into his eyes. 'Why are you being so silly?' I asked. 'You know how I feel about Erik.'

'I know. But you and he have a history together. You used to like him; you might change your mind.' He wasn't looking into my eyes. So I put my hand on his cheek and made him look into my face.

'I won't change my mind. You know I don't like him like that anymore. I told you. I have feelings for someone else.' I smiled. I thought that he would realise that I was talking about him. But he didn't. He misunderstood.

'What? Come on Z! Can you not see? I'm crazy for you! I have been since I first met you! I thought you knew that.' He turned away from me and was heading to the door. I grabbed his wrist and made him turn back.

'You are a very silly Warrior. I thought you knew. I meant you. You idiot.' I took a step towards him and smiled. He smiled back. He pulled me into a really tight hug. I put my face up towards him and he leaned down and kissed me.

'I think i'm in love with you.' He said. I couldn't help but smile.

'I think that i'm in love with you.' I said. He smiled and pulled me against him. We walked back over to the bed and sat there together. I was in his arms and he was just hugging me. It felt so nice. I had missed his hugs.

'I missed you a lot. I really wanted to see you. I was as quick as I could be with Aphrodite, then it took loads of attempts to get to you. I kept getting really excited and needing to let my mind go blank.' He laughed.

'I missed you a lot to. So. I have a piece of your soul huh?' he asked. I couldn't see his face, but I knew that the cocky grin was there.

'Of course. You will always have a piece of my soul and of my heart.' He smiled.

'You need to drink from me right?' he asked. I was suddenly really nervous. I wondered if he could feel my emotions.

'You don't need to be nervous.' Oh, he could hear my emotions. I turned red. He laughed.

'Can you hear my emotions?' I asked him.

'no.' he said and smiled.

'Then how do you know i'm nervous?' I asked.

'I can tell. You chew your lip.' He smiled. 'Now. Drink from me.'

'Cant I just sit here for a while?' I asked. I was perfectly happy to just sit here.

'Drink and then when you're back properly you can.' He said. It was so tempting.

'Fine.' I wanted to drink from him, but I was nervous. While I had been thinking, he had slid his nail over his neck and was now bleeding. My eyes saw the red line and I went straight to it.

His blood was like an explosion in my mouth. It was so much better than Heaths had been. I felt my chest heat up; I knew that I had my soul back. But I just didn't want to stop.

I heard him moan in pleasure. I really didn't want to stop. But I knew that I had to. So I told my brain _heal _and licked the cut. It turned into a pink line.

I pulled back. Stark was smiling at me. 'What?' I asked.

'Nothing.' But he had a huge grin on his face.

'No. what?' I asked.

'I can feel your emotions.' He was so pleased by this fact.

'Oh great. That's not going to be annoying at all.' I said. He laughed.

'Yeah. But it means that you soul is back together. You can return to your body.' He smiled. This face clearly pleased him a lot. I smiled at him.

'I got my marks back' I said. I knew that I had. I had felt them return.

'When?' he asked.

'When do you think?' I asked. He was so stupid.

'Yeah. I know that. But I felt your emotions half way through. That means your soul was together quite a while before you stopped.' When he said this I turned red. 'Having to much fun were you?' he asked. He had his cocky grin firmly in place.

'Yes. I had fun. I most probably should have stopped before I did. But, what are you going to do about it?' I asked. I smiled at him, a cheeky smile.

'Oh. Nothing. I'm glad you had fun.' He smiled. 'Was my blood better than Eric's?' why did he do this? This was so silly of him.

'Stark, don't do this. I dumped Eric because he was being to overprotective and bossy. I don't like bossy guys.'

'Z. come on. You have to see why i'm like this.' He said. I could, but he didn't need to be.

'Yeah I can. But you don't need to be. I told you. I love you. Not Erik. You. Now. If you're going to be silly. I will leave.' I got up to leave, but he caught my wrist and spun me around back to him.

'I'm sorry. I'm being silly. But, how good was my blood?' he was teasing me. So I decided that I would tease him.

'I've had better' I said. His smile stopped. 'I'm just kidding with you. It was very good.' The smile returned.

'Some of the best you've had?' he was being so silly and competitive.

'Yes. It is defiantly some of the best.' I said.

'In your top 3?' he asked. He was being silly.

'It is in my top 2.' I said.

'Am I number 1 or 2?' he asked. I didn't want to answer. Because heath was my number 2. Heath had always been my number 1. 'Z. if you don't want to answer. You don't have to.' He was so sweet. It made me want to answer.

'It was the best i've ever had. It was better than Heaths.' I said. It was sad that heath still had lost to a Vampyre. He would be really sad.

'How can it be better than Heaths? He was your imprinted human. His blood was the best blood you could have.' He asked but I had no idea.

'I don't know. It just was. Ok?' I didn't like the fact that heath had come into the conversation.

'Ok Z. now. How do you get back to your body?' I didn't have a clue.

'I don't know. But I think that I need to go to Nyx.' I got out of his lap. He stood up. I kissed him on the cheek.

'Stay here. I need to clear my mind. Then i'm going. I love you.' I kissed him on the lips.

'Ok. Hurry back to me.' I turned and left. When I walked out the door I shut my eyes. I let my mind go blank. I thought of one thing. _Nyx. My goddess. _I felt the world spin around me. Then my feet found the ground again.

I opened my eyes. I was in a palace. It was beautiful.

'Hello Zoey Redbird.' The voice came from behind me.

'Nyx!' I said.

'You have done well to get your soul back. You will return to your body now, and you must then banish Kalona.'

'Thank you Nyx.'

'When you go back. You will have a new gift.'

'Wow! What is it?' I asked. I was so excited.

'You and your warrior will be able to communicate silently. You will be connected through your minds. I think that this is a gift that will come in useful for you and your warrior. You will need this in the future. So you must learn how to use it.' Wow. This was so cool.

'Thank you.' I said.

'Your welcome. Now go back to your body and your warrior.'

I shut my eyes and thought of myself. I just thought _my body. _I felt the world spin. Then I was laying down on something. When I opened my eyes, I was on a bed. Erin and Shaunee, Jack and Damien, Darius and Aphrodite and Stark.

'Hey' I said. They all stared at me.

'Your back!!' they all ran and hugged me. Everyone except my warrior. I decided now would be a good time to try our communication.

_Hello handsome._ I thought. I was looking at him. I saw the surprise look on his face. I smiled.

_Hello beautiful. _I heard back. I smiled at him.

_Now come over here and give me a hug!_ He smiled. But he came over and gave me a hug. _Thank you._ I thought back to him

_How are we doing this?_ He asked me.

_It was a gift from the goddess. She said that we might need it in the future._

He looked unsure at this. _Stop panicking. We'll come to it when we do. Now let's go to your room. You promised after I came back I could sit in your lap and have a hug! _He laughed. I leapt down off the bed and we left the room hand in hand.

When we were in his room we went and sat on the bed together. I sat in his lap.

_I think I'm going to go and have a shower. I must stink. _He laughed.

_You do smell a bit. But I don't mind._ I smiled at him.

'Yeah, well I do.' I went for a shower. When I got out, I realised that I didn't have any clothes. I was thinking about going out there in my towel, but then I remememberd our new gift.

_Hey. Errm, can you get me some clothes? I don't have any. _I could hear him laughing from the other room.

_If you want to come out without any, that is fine by me. _

_Just go and get my clothes. _I thought. He was so one track minded.


	7. Chapter 7

**Zoey**

I was in the bathroom waiting for Stark to come back with my clothes. Then, finally there was a knock on the door. I wrapped my towel around myself tight. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

'Wow' stark said. I couldn't help but smile. He was holding my clothes so I leant out and grabbed them then shut the door.

When I was looking at what he brought me, I noticed that he had not brought me a bra. Great. I put my pants and jeans on. Then I tried my thought thing again.

_Hey. Errm, you forgot my bra. Could you go get it for me? _It made me really embarrassed for me to have him get me my bra.

_Oh come on. Do you really need it? Can't you just come out without it? _Uggh.

_Fine. _I pulled the top on, oh great, it had to be tight doesn't it, and you could see my nipples through it. I looked for a jumper. But no, he couldn't get me one of them, could he. _Could you get me a jumper? I'm cold._

I lied. But I don't think that he knew that I was lying.

_It's not cold. But fine, I'll go get it. But hurry up would you._

He went out to get it. I heard him come back in. _here. I got it. Now come out here._ I opened the door and went to go and get it. When he looked at me his mouth fell open.

_Wow. You look great. _I smiled.

_You're so sweet. Now hand me my jumper._ He gave me my jumper. I pulled it straight over my head and down.

_Did you really need to put the jumper on? _He was so one track minded.

_Shut up. Now come on. I'm tired. _I went over to the bed and sat on it. He came over and sat with me. I was really tired. I lay back on the bed. He lay next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist.

I pretty much fell asleep straight away. The last thing that I remembered was Stark telling me how much he loved me. He was so sweet and caring.

When I woke up Stark wasn't there. I started to panic. _Stark!! _He came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. Man he looked good.

_I know I do. _Oh crap. That was going to be really annoying. I blushed._ Hey, don't be embarrassed, I know how hot I am._ I couldn't help but laugh at him.

_Yeah yeah. Whatever. Now come over here. _He came over to me and I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. We weren't kissing for long. Pretty soon Stark had his hand up my shirt and was getting pretty near my breast. That was when I was aware that I didn't have a bra on.

I stopped kissing him then and leant away from him. _Is something wrong? _He was worried.

_No. i'm just not ready for that yet. Maybe some other time. I'm sorry._

_Hey. Don't worry. We can take it slow. You take the time you need._

_Thanks. You're the best warrior ever. I love you so much._

_You're welcome. Did I tell you how sorry I am?_

_What are you sorry for? _I had no clue what he had done.

_For abandoning you when you needed me. I should have stayed with you. It's my fault that Heath died._

_It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have let him go off on his own. It was my fault._

_Z. don't blame yourself, it was nothing to do with you._

I went over to him and hugged him tight. He was so sweet. The thing was, it wasn't that I didn't want him, because I did. I wanted him so bad, but I still wasn't ready. I wasn't over the stuff with Blake.

_Who's Blake? _Oh crap. I'd forgotten about the mind thing. _Z who is he?_

_He is the old drama teacher. I and he had a thing. I made a mistake. He didn't love me. He was tricking me, he wanted to know things, and then he told them to Neferet. _

_Oh. Z, I'm so sorry I brought it up. _

_It's ok. It's not your fault. I was an idiot. _

_Z. did you lose your virginity to him? _Oh great. This was so not the way this conversation should go.

_Yes I did. Why? _

_Nothing. I'm not either. I just wondered if you were. And, i'm sorry the guy who you lost it to was such a jerk._ See, so sweet._ I know. I'm so sweet. _

_How do you know the right thing to say all the time? _

_I don't know. I just do. Did it work?_

_Yes. You have no idea how bad I want you right now._

_Oh really? You want me?_

_Like hell. _Right then I couldn't keep it in any longer. I walked over to Stark and kissed him so passionately. He was shocked, but he pretty soon got into it. We fell back onto the bed, and I had my hands locked into his hair.

All of a sudden, his shirt was on the floor, I had no idea how. Then mine was pretty soon, mine was too. Then my hands went to his jeans. I undid the zip then pulled them down. Then, he had my tracksuit bottoms off and on the floor.

Then before we knew it, we were making love. It was so good. Stark was so good. He was way better than Blake. We fell asleep in each others arms.

When we woke up, there was a knock on the door.

'Hello? Guys come on!' it was Aphrodite.

_You can get that. I'm going for a shower._

_Sure you don't want my help to wash your back? _

_Maybe later. _Then I winked.

Stark

I pulled my jeans back on the went to get the door. Aphrodite came straight in. 'please, come in.' he said.

'we have a problem. Kalona is back.' She said. Oh shit. This was not good.

'ok. Zoey is in the shower, when she is out I will tell her and we'll meet you in the kitchen.

'ok. Don't take long. He wants to see Zoey.' Great, this was so what she needed.

Aphrodite turned and went out the door. I had no Idea what I was going to do. Zoey wasn't ready to face Kalona. She had feelings for him, and she also was still mad at him about the whole thing with Heath.

I went over the wardrobe and took out a shirt. I pulled it on and went to the bed. I sat on it and waited for Zoey to come out.

When she did he went straight to her side. 'Zoey, we have a problem.' I didn't want to worry her, but I knew that I had to tell her.

'What is it?' she asked. I think she thought that I was just joking around.

'Kalona is back, and he wants to see you.' I said. Her face fell instantly.

'It's alright Zo; I'll be there the whole time. I won't let him get to you.' I meant it. Even if my heart had to stop beating, I wouldn't let him hurt Zoey again.

'Ok. Let's go.' She was so brave. We left the room together hand in hand. When we entered the kitchen, everyone was there.

'Where is he?' she asked.

'We don't know. He came to see you. We said you were asleep. He said he would come back later.' So we had no idea when he was coming.

**Zoey**

Kalona was coming. This was going to be really bad. I didn't know if I would be able to be strong and not fall for him. I didn't want to, but when I was with him, I couldn't help myself.

I was really going to need Stark. _Stark? _ He was so good to me. He relied instantly.

_Yeah Zo? _He asked

_Stay with me. I'm afraid that I think that I might fall into his trap. Stark I think that I'm going to fall for him._

_Don't worry Zoey. I won't let him get to you. _He was so great.

_Thank you. Don't leave me for a second though. I most probably will fail and go to him._

_Z, calm down. I am going to stay by your side; I won't let you go to him. Even if my heart has to stop beating to make it so. _

_I won't let you die to stop me. I already lost Heath. I don't want to lose you too. _

_Ok. Don't worry. I'm stronger than you think. I'm going to do what I can to keep you happy. You have suffered enough because of me._ He was still blaming himself for Heaths death, which was silly.

I walked over to him and took his hand. I didn't want him to feel guilty. But I was defiantly not going to let him die because of the feelings that I have for Kalona. I wouldn't let that happen. He was too important for me to lose.

Right then the door opened. It was Kalona. He was in his black jeans and no top; his wings were wrapped around him. Stark squeezed my hand tighter and sent me a mental message _don't worry Z, i'm here. I love you._

_I love you too. _Kalona came in and he saw me holding Starks hand. He eyed it.

'Hello my A-ya.' He said to me.

'My name is Zoey' I said to him. It was my name and I wasn't going to let him forget it.

'Yes. Well. I am glad to see that you are better.'

'Yes. I am better. Thanks to the help of my friends.' I turned and smiled at them.

'Well. It is time for us to leave now my A-ya.' Man alive, he made me so mad.

'I'm not going any where. I'm staying here with my warrior and my friends' I squeezed Starks hand. _Your doing good. Don't worry._

'Please. Leave us now. You are not welcome here. We have things to be doing.' Just to wind him up, I turned to Stark and winked at him. 'You ready warrior?' I asked. Stark blinked at me _huh? _He asked me.

_Play along. Please. _

'Yeah. I'm ready.' He let me toe him off to his bedroom. We went over and sat on the bed. I was just saying there hugging him. But then Kalona burst in.

'A-ya. I cannot allow this. You must leave with me' did he really think that I was going to go with him?

'uhh. Excuse me. I'm in the middle of something here. Could we please have a little privacy?' I asked. He got mad then. He took a step into the room.

Then stark, being all warrior like and all, stood in front of me to protect me.

'Yes. Is there something I can do for you?' Kalona asked him,

'Leave Zoey alone.' Stark said

'Excuse me, but this is a private conversation between me and my A-ya. You may leave'

'Oh. I may leave? Well. That's great. But i'm not going to. I'm really quite comfy where I am thanks.'

Kalona took a step towards stark and raised his arm and hit stark. Stark flew across the room and hit the opposite wall.

'STARK!' I screamed. I ran over to him. He was unconscious. I was really mad now. I went over to Kalona until I was an inch away from him.

'Leave me alone. I want nothing to do with you. If you ever hurt my friends again, I will find you, and I will kill you. Now turn around and walk out and won't kick your butt with the elements.' I felt the elements swirling around me. I pushed them out a bit and they hit Kalona, they caused him to take a few steps back. He looked shocked that I was standing up to him.

'I will leave now. But I will be back for you soon.' He said. He turned around and left the room.

I turned around to go back to Stark. He was still lying on the ground. I went over to him and called Darius in.

'High priestess, what happened?' he asked.

'Kalona' I said. 'Can you help me get him onto the bed?' I asked him.

'Of course high priestess.' He lifted Stark up and put him on the bed. He then left and I sat next to Stark on the bed and waited for him to come out of unconsciousness.


	8. Chapter 8

**Stark**

Kalona threw me against the wall, and then everything went black. When I managed to open my eyes, I thought that they weren't open, everything was black, just blackness. So I blinked. No change.

I had been unconscious before, but it had never been like this, I had no idea how long I had been out, but it felt like ages, but that might be simply because I was all alone in the blackness with nothing to do. So I just thought about Zoey. It was a good topic, all the memories that we have together, all the good times and the laughs that we have had, of the first night that I slept in the same bed as her.

Things started to change after a very long time, I knew it was a long time because my thoughts for Zoey were starting to come slower, I couldn't think of many more. Then a gold light appeared, I realised that I must be coming back to consciousness. That would be so good now, after thinking about Zoey for so long, I missed her.

Out of the light, came a tall, beautiful figure, she was dressed in a white dress that went to her knees, I knew that it must be Nyx. I had never seen her before, but I knew that she had come to Zoey. She was beautiful.

'Stark. You have done well. You have protected your high priestess. But I fear that the time may come, when she will need you more than ever. You must be careful now. She is in more danger than she has ever been in before. She needs people that she can trust and that will look after her and protect her. Can you do this?' could I? I had no idea. But I knew that I was going to try, I had to at least try and protect Zoey.

'I don't know. But I will try. I would do anything that I can to protect Zoey. But I won't be alone, she has her friends, they all love her and want to keep her safe. They are strong, and they will probably be able to do what I cannot. For I fear that my feelings for my lady are getting in the way of my warriors oath.' I was sad, because I knew that if I couldn't do what I had sworn to do, then I would have to leave Zoey, and that was something that I never wanted to do.

'Do not fear. Her friends are powerful and they care deeply for her. Just as you do. Your feelings for Zoey will not damage your oath, they will strengthen it. You must try and keep in mind that she has lost her consort and her feelings are sad. You and she have a strong bond, it goes deeper than your oath, she has deep feelings for you, and you have deep feelings for her. But her feelings for Kalona are strong, but they belong to A-ya, and I believe that soon, when Zoey is weak, Kalona will use this, and he will get to A-ya through Zoey and he will be able to use her powers to get what he wants. You must be there and stop Zoey from being weak. She must save her powers, and if it is needed, she must drink from you as her consort has been lost. This is a very dangerous time for Zoey Redbird. You must be there with her all the time and be prepared to protect her. I believe that you are the main part of her soul.' wow. This was going to be hard. But hey, at least I know Zoey returns my feelings. That was great to know, id been worrying about that, she had been a bit strange since heath had died, I was worried that she blamed me for it and did just not want to hurt my feelings.

'I will do everything in power to keep Zoey safe. I won't let anything hurt her. I don't want her to be hurt.' He said this and he knew that he meant it. When he was there he knew that it was time that he went back to her, he wanted to make sure that she was safe.

'Patience. She is safe. She is with Darius; he won't let any danger come to her. Stark knew this but he was still worried, he wanted to be sure, and then he would be able to settle down.

'You may go now warrior. Be sure to look after your priestess. She needs you now. Do not forget this.' She waved him goodbye and she started to fade.

When I opened my eyes I was under a bright light, I couldn't understand why, so I blinked again. Then, all of a sudden, there was a face that blocked the light and was staring directly into my face.

'Your up.' Man that was a beautiful voice. It was so great to hear it.

'You think? 'I said joking. I grinned then; it felt like a while since I had last grinned.

'Well. If that's the way it is then I think that I am going to go and have some breakfast. You stay here and have some fun having even more sleep. 'She looked hurt, but I knew that she was faking, but even then I didn't like the look of sadness on her face. She turned to leave, so I grabbed her wrist and pulled her round onto my lap.

'Well, this is not the way that I was planning to go.' She smiled. It was so good to see her smile. It made me smile back.

'This is an even better way' it felt so good joking around. I kissed her then, I hadn't intended for it to be a big kiss. But she leant in and made it one. So I just kept on kissing her. then, before I knew it, her arms were wrapped tight around my neck and she was getting closer and closer to me, I knew what would happen if I let this go on any longer, and as much as I wanted it, I knew that Zoey wasn't ready, not so close to after Heath's death.

I pulled back. 'Come on Z. not now. Let's go get some breakfast.' I smiled at her, although, I wasn't happy. I really did want to continue. When I looked at her, she looked really sad. I laughed. I hadn't meant to, but it just came out.

'Why not? I want to.' She said. I really wanted to, but if she wasn't ready, then I wasn't going to make her.

'Because, you're not ready. Not so close after Heath and all. I get that it isn't right for you. Plus I don't want you to be going through all of this when we're you know. 'She knew what I meant.

'Come on. I am fine. I want you, you know that. You can feel it cant you?' I could feel it, it was her emotions, they were shouting at me. She wanted to, and so did I. she felt rejected, that wasn't what I wanted, I didn't want to hurt her.

'Zo, you know I want to. But I don't want you to do this with Kalona just around the corner all the time, with Heath just dead, and all this other stuff. I don't want you to want it now, and then when it is all over, you want nothing else.' It didn't come out right, but I didn't know how to explain it.

'Stark, I will always want you. No matter where the danger is. I will always want you; you are the most important thing in my life. Yeah. There is Kalona, and yeah, I have feelings for him, but they aren't mine, they are A-ya's. Plus, yeah, heath did just die, and yeah, I am going to miss him like hell. But right now and probably ever, the only guy that I want is you.' Her words made me smile.

'Zo. I want to, I really really do. You have no idea. But your in danger, it isn't the time.' Crap. I hadn't meant for her to know about the Nyx stuff.

'I'm in danger? What the hell is that supposed to mean?' she was angry. I could sense her emotions, and her voice was also telling me that she was angry.

'Yeah. When I was out, Nyx came to me. She told me that you are in serious danger and that you are going to feel the loss of your consort, and that I have to be strong to protect you, and that when your weak, you need to drink from me, that my blood is best for you now that Heath has gone.' I didn't want to worry her, so I just kept it simple.

'Zo, she said that when your weak, Kalona can use that, he can call A-ya to him, and as your part A-ya, it will be you, and she will have your powers, and Z, he could use your powers to do whatever he wanted. But don't worry, I wont let it happen Zo, I will be there, I won't let you get hurt, even if my heart has to stop beating to keep you safe.'

'Were you going to tell me? Or were you just going to keep it secret? Because this is the sort of thing that I need to know. Not everything is on you, I have my friends, they are all strong and they can all keep me safe, just as you can.'

'Zo. You don't get it. She said that your friends are strong, but that it is only me who can keep you safe. That as your warrior, with a very strong link to you I can keep you safe, but the thing is, I don't know if I can. I have let so many bad things happen to you, things that if Darius was your warrior, would never have happened to you.' I couldn't continue. I didn't want to think of the horrid things that had happened to her because of me.

'Stark, chill, not everything is on you. If I am stupid, it is my fault, if I fall over, it is my fault, if I throw spirit to save someone and nearly die because of it, it is my fault, not yours.' She smiled at me. I knew that she wanted me to, but I couldn't.

'Zo. You don't get it. Heath shouldn't have been there, he shouldn't have gone to look for me, and I should have been there. I shouldn't have left you. You needed me, but I left you. I shouldn't have done that, and I am so sorry and I will never do it again.' I meant it. I was never going to leave her again, I didn't want to.

'It was me, I shouldn't have been like that, and I was horrid to you. I shouldn't have said all that stuff about Bekka. It wasn't you fault, Kalona had got to you. If I hadn't of said it, it was stupid of me, especially when I needed you.' When she said this, I knew that she wanted me to feel better, but it really didn't. It made me feel worse, I felt bad, she had needed me, and I had left her.

'Zo. That really doesn't help me. You needed me, and I left. I should have kept my temper under control, it shouldn't have got to me, but I let it. I was really stupid with it all.' I felt so guilty. I should never have left her.

'When are you going to just accept that this is not your fault? It isn't. It wasn't you. It was me. You should just deal with it ok? It is over now anyway. It is in the past, stop beating you about it. Ok. Its over. I don't want to be thinking about all of this now. I just want to clear my head and be with you. Why won't you just let me? That is what I want.' She wanted me, and I wanted her. It should have been that simple. In her head it was, but not in mine.

'Zo. Ok, we both have different views on it. Let's just leave it at that. You know I want you. You know I do. Surely you can hear that when I think about it?' I mean seriously, I thought about it a lot. I knew that she didn't want to use the connection till we really needed to, because she didn't want Kalona to know that we could communicate by our minds. 'But come on. This is not the time. Some other time, we will. But, right now. No. not when you have all this. It is not right.'

When she tried to talk again, I just put my finger to her lips. 'That is that. The end. End of discussion.' When I let my finger down, she didn't try to argue, I was surprised, I thought she would. I was glad she didn't, I didn't have the energy to argue. I was seriously tired.

'Now. Come here and give me a cuddle. I thought that was what you wanted? To be near my hot body?' she crawled over to me and snuggled up. It felt so right to have her in my arms. After a while. I heard her fall asleep. I was so tired, that was what I wanted. I was just about to shut my eyes, when Aphrodite stormed in.

'Come on. He is back, and he has friends. We need you arrow boy.'

'Shut up. She is asleep. I don't want her woken. I will come in a minute.' I looked at Zoey, she was still asleep. That was lucky, she looked exhausted.

'Is that wise? I mean, he can still get to her dreams, if your out there, then he could be in her dream.' Oh, I hadn't thought about that, was it a risk worth taking? I decided she looked tired enough, and if we told Kalona she was out on a walk then he wouldn't feel the need to go to her in her dreams, plus, it wasn't exactly bed time.

'Yeah, I think we will be safe.' I wedged myself out from under Zoey and went to the door; I looked back and saw Zoey still asleep. I shut the door and went to join the others.

'If he asks, Zoey is on a walk.' I told them. They nodded.

'But, surely he has come to see her. Won't he want to wait or something?' jack asked, I hadn't thought about it, but oh well, we could just tell him he wasn't welcome.

'Don't worry. I'm sure it will all be fine. Come on. Let's go. We want him as far away from Zoey as possible.' We walked through the doors outside. The moon was high and was making everything seem white, it looked magical.

We saw Kalona walking towards us. He was in his black jeans and no top, as usual. Clinging to his hand was Neferet, she was wearing a black dress that had straps over the shoulders, and her boobs barely fit into the dress. Then behind them, were raven mockers, a lot of them. I didn't know how many. But there were at least 20.

'hello.' He greeted us all. He then looked straight at me. 'you look better, are you ok now? You seemed to pass out when you fell, I tried to push you lightly, but I guess I am just too strong for you. It was a waste of effort on my part.'

'I am fine.' He was making me angry. 'What do you want?' I asked Kalona

'I have come to see my A-ya. I know that she wants to see me. I can feel it, she calls to me.' He tried to walk past us, but we blocked his path.

'She isn't here. She has gone for a walk. She won't be back for a while' I told him, I hoped he believed me, I didn't want him bothering Zoey right now. She had been through enough these last few days. She needed her rest.

'Then we shall wait for her.' he said. He tried to take another step, as if to come into our dorm bit.

'Sure. Go back to wherever you came from. We'll let her know you stopped by.' I smiled at him.

He turned and walked away. 'we'll come back later then.' He called over his shoulder to us.

'come on. lets go. I want to get back to Zoey before he tries to get into her dreams. We went back, I went straight to Zoey, she seemed fine. I slipped into the bed next to her and wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her into my shoulder. She rolled over, her eyes were awake.

'How long have you been up for?' I asked her. I hoped that I had woken her, not that she had been alone that whole time and worried.

'Not long. I noticed when you left. I would of come but I didn't want to face Kalona. So I pretended to sleep. But, while your gone, I decided. I want to go home now.' She had been awake the whole time. Great.

'That's fine. You don't have to see him if you don't want, and don't worry, I wont leave you alone with him. Now go back to sleep. I was enjoying my sleep before Aphrodite woke me.' I pulled her back against my shoulder. I stayed awake till Zoey was asleep; I wanted to make sure she had Kalona free dreams, and then when I was sure that she was fine, I drifted straight into sleep. I was exhausted.


	9. Chapter 9

**Zoey**

I drifted to sleep pretty quickly. I was so tired. It was so nice to be asleep in Starks arms. It made me feel so safe. He was being so silly though, all over protective. He was still blaming himself for all the stuff with Heath, which wasn't his fault. I shouldn't have let him come. It was a stupid idea, I should have made him stay here, where he could have gone to a party or done hius homework, or catch-up on the work he missed being with me.

When I fell asleep, I was dreaming of being in a meadow. I was with Heath. It was so nice. He was in his favoroute tracksuit. I was in a long skirt that was made of a thin material that was just above my knee, it was a nice white, normally white skirts were dirty, but this one wasn't, it was spotless. I had a blue top that had no straps, it was my summer top.

We were running around the meadow, laughing and just messing around. After a while, I was tired, and I went to the middle, I felt arms wrap around me and pull me into a hug. I turned to give Heath a kiss. He smiled at me. He was sat on the ground behind me, so I climbed up to be nearer to him, I was beside him, he laughed and lifted me into his lap, so I snuggled in. it was so great to be back here, I hadn't been here for so long. This was my home, this was one of my memories, these hugs that ma and Heath had.

Me and Heath were just laughing and joking and messing around. Neither of us noticed the figure watching us from the hedge. I only noticed it when it moved back into the woods. When I looked, like really looked, I saw figures were all in the woods, they were just dark black, but I knew that they wernt meant to be there. I jumped straight up to my feet and stood infront of Heath. I was taking a protective stance, it was the one that Stark stood infront of me with. I spread my arms out, just like he had done.

I started to turn, I knew that someone else was here, there had to be a reason all of those people were here, when I turned, I saw an opening, standing in the opening with just a pair of black jeans was Kalona. Great, so I had to deal with him now. He took a step towards me. I growled. I didn't want him near Heath, but he just laughed and carried on walking.

He came close to us, too close for my liking. I blinked. When I opened my eyes, Kalona was gone. I couldn't figure out where he had gone. I turned to Heath, when I turned I realised Kalona was there, he was holding Heath by the neck again.

'NO! LET HIM GO!' I screamed at Kalona.

'but, he is dead already. He wont feel a thing. This is just a dream after all. His body is rotting in the ground.' He thought the words would hurt me. But they didn't. heath was in the ground, he was away from me. But my affinity for earth meant that I felt close to him.

'yes, he is. But he will always be close to me. For, wherever he is, I am too.' I said. I knew what Kalona was about to do. I didn't want to have to see it again. So I closed my eyes.

'zo. I love you.' Heath said. I smiled. I wanted to say goodbye, I didn't get to last time.

'I love you too Heath. Im sorry all of this happened. You're the best.' I smiled at him. Right then, Kalona snapped his neck again.

I screamed. I couldn't help it. it was horrid to see Heath die again. All of a sudden, I was sat straight up in bed, I was next to Stark, who was sat there staring at me.

'Z. are you ok?' he asked me. I had worried him. Oops.

'yeah. Im fine. Bad dream that's all.' I shouldn't have said that, he knew immediately that Kalona was in my dream.

'how did he get in your dream? He shouldn't be able to. Im here with you. You were sleeping with me.' He said. I hadn't told him that he had got into my dreams when I slept with Heath.

'yeah. He can still get into my dreams now. He did it when I slept with Heath. Im sorry, I didn't want to worry you then.' I had a sad face on, I knew I did. But I couldn't bring the energy to change it. so it stayed the same.

'do you want to tell me what happened?' Stark asked.

'I saw Heath dieing. Again. Kalona wanted to punish me. So he killed Heath.' Was all I said. But my eyes filled with tears and they rolled down my cheeks. I was seeing the images of Heath dieing going around in my head, of the first time he died and the second. It just made it worse.

'zo. Im sorry. Im so sorry.' He said and pulled me against his chest. I snuggled against him and just cried. I cired until I had nothing left. There was nothing else that could come out.

'I think he is trying to weaken me. He wants me to be weak so that he can call A-ya to him.' I said. I dindt know where that came from. I didn't know that I was weak now. But when I thought about it, I was weak. I didn't have any energy.

'then drink from me.' Stark said. That was so tempting. I really wanted to. I really liked Starks blood, it was so good. My mouth started to water.

'no. im not weak. Im fine.' I said. I didn't want to take his needed to be strong too. I would get my strength back soon. I would recover in time. I always did.

'Zo. Nyx told me this is what I need to do. When your weak, you need to drink from me' he said. He was right, Nyx had told him I had to drink from him, and goddess knows, I wanted to.

'I don't know. You need to be strong too. I don't want you to be weak and then something happen to you.' I said. It would kill me if something happened to Stark. I couldn't lose Stark and Heath.

'Zo. Im strong. Besides, ive got my arrows' he grinned his cocky grin at me. But, I knew that those arrows were useless against Kalona, he was immortal, and I knew that Kalona was going to go for Stark first, the first person he would want me to see die would be Stark.

Stark knew what I was thinking. I didn't realise that I had been thinking mentally to him.

'Zo. I will be fine. You need to worry about yourself, not me. I am stronger than you think.' He grinned.

'but. What if something did happen to you? Then it would be all my fault!' I said. I didn't want anything to happen to him. I loved him.

'zo. Quit worrying. I will be just fine. Now come and drink my blood. You know how much you like it.' he grinned cockily. He knew how much I really liked it. I grinned at him.

'fine. But if something happens to you and you die. Then just you remember, I told you not to do this, because believe you me, if you go, I wont be far behind.' I said.

He looked really worried. 'Zo. If something happens to me during that fight. Your not goiong to let yourself be killed are you? Or do it yourself?' he asked. he thought that I was going to kill myself.

'I don't want to live without you. I have already lost everything, I don't want to lose anything else.' I said.

'Zo. Don't think like that. If I die, then I want it to be for a good reason, I want that reason to be that you can live on and defeat Kalona. Without you, there is no hope for anyone. He cant be stopped. I don't want you to die if I do. You are Nyx's chosen one. You have to continue. Do you understand me?' he asked me. I nodded. But I was still going through with my plan. It would just be a bit delayed.

'it wont be just a bit delayed.' Damb. That mind thing. I kept forgetting about it. 'I'll warn Darius that if something happens to me, he needs to keep an eye on you.' He threatened. I didn't want to be babysat, that would make my pans impossible.

'fine.' I walked over to him and hugged him. 'you'd better not die.' I grumbled. 'I'll miss you.' I said. He smiled.

'everyone will.' He said. He was so cocky.

He pulled me over to the bed and sat me in his lap. I snuggled against him. 'come on. time for you to drink' he said.

'I love you' I said to him. I don't know why, but I thought that I had better tell him that. He grinned at me.

' I love you too' he said. I smiled a big cheesy grin. He pulled his thumbnail across his neck. It started to bleed. I leaned in and licked it.

It was like an explosion in my mouth. It was so good. I groaned, he did too. I wanted him so badly now. But I knew what I had to do. So I tried to keep my mind focused. My body was really not listening. I was pretty much pining my hand down. It wanted to go to the bump in his jeans, I knew what would happen when it got there. So I tried very hard to keep it where it was.

After a few minutes, I felt strong again. So I told my mind _heal _and I licked the cut and t turned into a think pink line. I drew back to put my head on his chest. I peeked a look up at him. He was grinning down at me.

'what?' I asked him. I knew he had heard everythought that I had had. Great. I felt really embarrassed and my cheeks flushed red.

He grinned down at me and bent and kissed me on my lips.

'come on. are you ready for breakfast? I'm starved.' He said. Typical. Guys were always thinking about food.

'fine then. Lets' now that he was speaking of it, I was really hungry. He got up off the bed and offered me his hand to help me up, I took it and he pulled me slightly too hard, and I bumped straight into his chest.

'you like it there don't you?' he asked. he was always being so cocky.

'oh yeah. It's the best place. I do just wish I wasn't there so often.' I joked. I didn't want him to let me go, I really did like it ther.

'yeah yeah. Course you do.' He said. He pulled me out and we left to go through to the kitchen for some food. I could smell the pancakes from where I was, it made my mouth water.

'come on greedy' stark joked with me. He could clearly hear my thoughts. I laughed at him.

'come on. im hungry' he said.

'I know' he said. He spoke quitly so I wasn't sure if I was meant to hear.

'yeah yeah. Of course I am.' I joked with him. Just then we walked through the kitchen and saw everyone sitting around the little table. They were all digging into theirs, everyone except Aphrodite, I then remembered that she didn't like pancakes. We went and sat down at the table next to each other and ate our pancakes. I ate mine very quickly, I was really hungry.

**Hey, so I am feeling very enderloved! 11 reviews!! Come on people.. if I don't have at least 15 reviews, I shall not add another chapter… I mean it!!**

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	10. authors note i know BORING :L

**Authors note **

**I know a lot of people don't read authors notes, I find them really boring. Lol. So I will try my best to keep this short.**

**Hey guys **** im on like chapter 9 right? Im not too sure. Lol. Well, I have had like 13 reviews!! **** 2 more and I will give you your next chapter!! It is written, I just need two reviews!! **

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	11. Chapter 10

**!! got 15 reviews **

**Zoey**

We were all sat around the table, laughing and joking, it was great, it felt like things were back to how they used to be. I was actually having a really good time, it felt like it had been so long since we had just had fun and been like this.

Just when I was having a really good time, the door and opened and in came Kalona. What was it with him and ruining my fun? He stood in the doorway with Neferet by his side.

I got up out of my chair and walked over to him. 'What do you want?' I asked him, I put as much hate into my voice as I could.

'I'm just here to make sure that you are safe.' He said.

'Well I am. You have checked, you can leave now.' I said to him. I really hoped that he would just turn and leave, but I knew in my brain that he wouldn't.

'Not just yet. I think that I will stay a while. I have missed you. It feels like we have been apart for a very long time. I think that we should sit down and have a talk.' He said. He wanted to come in? As if.

'I'm sorry. I don't think that that is a good idea. I don't feel the need for a chat. I am pretty happy with the way things are. So, as I said, you can leave.' I told him again. At that moment I felt Stark come up behind me and take my hand in his. I looked into his eyes and grinned at him.

'I will see you later.' I said to Kalona and turned to Stark. 'You ready warrior?' I asked him.

'Yeah. Come on. We've got things to do.' He said. I laughed.

'I like the sound of that' I winked at him. I heard someone clear their throat. I turned to see who it was; I saw that Kalona was still stood in the doorway with an appalled look on his face.

'Like I said. You can leave' I told him.

'You know what, I don't think I will.' He said. He took a step toward me. I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there. Then I remembered the mental connection me and Stark had.

_What do I do? _I asked him. I had no clue; I was still just standing there.

_Stand still for now, he will come closer in a second. Just stand your ground, if you move he will think he has scared you. _He said back to me, but I didn't want to stand still, I didn't want Kalona near to me. But I did what Stark told me.

Kalona took another step closer towards us. His face was just inches away from me. I could feel the breath on his face. Neferet was stood next to him. She didn't seem to like the closeness between me and Kalona.

'What do you want?' I asked Kalona. He smiled.

'I am perfectly happy just standing still. Right here.' he said. Well, that was useful.

_Stark? _I called to him in my head.

_Just stay there; I don't know what he wants. But don't worry, i'm here. He can't hurt you._

I really hoped that Stark was right. Kalona was still just standing there.

'If you don't mind, I have things to be doing.' I told him. I wanted him to back off. I thought about calling the elements to me and pushing him back, but I didn't want him to think that I was scared.

'Oh. Well, in that case, I had better leave you too it.' Kalona said. Huh, so that was all it took? If I had known that earlier, I would have done it earlier. 'I shall come back to see you tonight.' Kalona said.

Oh crap. He was going to come to my dream. I didn't want him in my dream. I was tired from last nights dream. I knew he was trying to weaken me.

'Goodbye.' I said. He turned and walked to Neferet and took her hand, they left together. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at me as he walked out the door.

'Pheww. I wonder what that was about.' I said. I turned around and took Starks hand and we walked back to the table.

'I don't know. But he said he was going to come back tonight. What do you think that means?' Aphrodite asked.

'He came into my dream last night; I think he means that he is going to come back again tonight.' I told them.

'But, you slept with Stark, how did he get in there?' Jack asked.

'He says that as long as he is truthful, he can come into my dreams. This isn't the first time he has been able to do it.' I told them. I told them all about the stuff that I had told them about when I had slept with Heath.

'Just don't listen to him.' Damien said. Did he really think it was that simple? I shrugged at them. Stark squeezed my hand.

They seemed to know that I didn't want to continue.

'Has anybody spoken to Stevie Rae?' I asked them.

'Err; I spoke to her the other day. But not since then' Aphrodite said.

'I think I might ring her. You never know, Karishma might have another poem.' I said. I hoped she did, we really needed some help now. We had no idea how to get rid of Kalona.

So I went back to my room and picked up my phone. When I flipped it up it said that I had 5 missed calls and 7 new texts. I looked at them. Most were from Stevie Rae. I dialled her number.

'Hello?' it was so nice to hear her Okie accent.

'Hey Stevie Rae.' I said.

'Zoey! Are you ok?' she asked me.

'I'm fine. Just seeing how everything is back at Tulsa?' I asked her.

'It is all ok here. Everyone is still under Kalona's spell though' she said.

'Ok. Has Karishma's had another poem?' I asked. I crossed my fingers; I really hoped that she had.

'Yeah, she did. I completely forget to tell you about It.' she said. Thank goddess, maybe there was some hope left. 'I just feel that I should warn you, it doesn't seem like it is going to be easy.' She said. Wow, that had me worried.

'Ok. Just give me a minute to get a pen and paper', I wanted to be able to tell the others about it. I rummaged in a draw and found a pen; I looked into eh other draws and found some paper.

'Ok. What is it?' I asked her.

'The important day is soon to be,

There will be a fight,

She may then be set free,

She who is their one and only light.

The battle will be hard,

Some will not make it,

Even though she has a guard,

When her throat is slit.

She will come back,

As long as she has enough strength,

Their hopes will crack,

She won't be gone for a length.

She will always return,

When she does he will suffer,

She will make him burn,

She will be even tougher.'

Well, that didn't seem that good for me.

'Ok. Well. Thanks Stevie Rae. I'll ring you back later.' I told her.

'Be careful Zo.' She said to me.

'You too' I said. I didn't want anything to happen to her.

I left and went out into the kitchen to the others. I guess that I must have been white, because they came up to me straight away.

'Zo. What's wrong?' Stark asked me immediately.

'Karishma's has done another poem.' I told them. I got the piece of paper out of my pocket and read it to them.

'Well, the first bit is obvious, there is going to be a battle.' Aphrodite said.

'Yeah. I agree' I said.

'The second bit is that A-ya is going to manage to come to take over Z. you're the light.' Jack said.

'The third bit is clear, this battle is going to be big, and some of us are going to die.' Damien said. When he said this, we all looked around at each other. We were all friends, none of us wanted to lose andbody.

'The fourth bit is also clear, somehow, my throat is going to be slit.' I said. I looked straight at Stark.

'I won't let that happen.' He said.

'It's not on you. It says that I will come back, as long as I am strong enough. The next bit says that I won't be gone for long' I said.

'The next bit is obvious too, It says that when you come back. You will know how to kill him. It says that you will burn him.' Shaunee said.

I walked up to Stark. 'It is not all on you. I am going to come back. I will be strong enough to kill him. I am going to finish this. The only thing that you have to do is making sure that you don't get hurt.' I told him.

I seemed to have reminded him about something that had happened earlier.

'Darius. Can I have a word with you?' he said. I then realised what I had reminded him of. He was going to talk to Darius to say if anything happens to him then to make sure that I don't kill myself.

'Of course.' He came over to Stark. I hoped Stark wasn't going to do this with everyone listening.

'In private?' he asked him. I sent him a silent message _thank you. _I said to him. I smiled at him. He smiled back and then he and Darius left.

'What is all that about?' Aphrodite asked.

'Nothing. Just something about me.' I told them. They laughed.

'Everything to do with Stark is to do with you.' Shaunee and Erin said, and then they started laughing.

'Well said twin' Shaunee said.

Then Stark and Darius came back in. Darius looked at me. Oh great, if something happened to Stark, Darius was going to make it so much harder to get to be with Stark.

Stark came over to me. 'Come on. You look tired.' He said to me and he led me into the bedroom.

'Why did you do that?' I asked him.

'Do what?' he seemed worried, he knew that he had done something to upset me.

'Telling Darius. If you're gone, then when Kalona is, I am going to follow you. I want to be wherever you are.' I told him.

'Zo. You're being stupid. I don't want you to die, just because i'm gone. You can go on living.' He said. Did he not understand, I didn't want to live if he didn't?

'So if I died, after all of this. When Kalona is gone and everything, I die, maybe a raven mocker kills me because of all this with Kalona, you are going to just carry on and find someone else?' I asked him.

'That's different. You're my high priestess, i'm linked to your soul.' he said.

'Exactly, why should one rule apply to me, and not to you?' I asked him.

'Just because.' He told me. Uggh. He was so annoying.

'Yeah yeah. I'm annoying. Whatever.' He said. He was being really stupid, why should he get a different rule?

'anyway, Darius said that if something does happen to me, then if Kalona has been killed and everything is sorted, and if you feel that you just cant continue to live without me, then he wont stop you from doing what you want to do. Which is really pointless, and annoying, I thought he was going to agree with me. But he didn't.' yes, oh thank god, I still had a chance then. I grinned.

'Don't look so happy. I don't want anything to happen to you.' He said. He was quite pissed off that Darius wasn't going to try and keep me alive.

'Hey, as long as you concentrate on making sure that your safe, then it shouldn't come to anything. I just don't want to lose you.' I told him, I don't know what I would do if I lost him. He grinned and me and pulled me into a tight hug.

'You're not going to lose me.' He whispered in my ear. I turned around so that I was facing him and started to kiss him. Before I knew it I was on the bed with him on top of me, I thought that I was finally going to get my way, but then he started to pull back out, so I pulled him back down. I sent him a silent thought.

_Not this time, we are doing what I want_

_If that is what you really want_

_It is. _I deepened the kiss _go lock the door _I told him, I could really do with out some one coming in on us that would just make the whole thing so much more annoying and way less romantic for our first time.

He leapt off the bed and went and locked the door, he turned around with a big grin on his face. He got back on the bed and lay on top of me. I knew what I wanted to make this better, but I didn't think that he was going to do it.

'Bite me.' I told him.

'Zo, no. you need your strength. You have a battle coming.' Uggh, I was strong, he knew that.

'The battle isn't today; I can get my strength back. I have my ways.' I grinned at him. 'Now bit me' I told him.

'Zo, I don't know.' I decided that I wasn't going to get my way, so I took my nail and sliced it across the base of my neck.

'Now, go on, drink.' I told him. He bent his head down and licked the cut, think he was going to close it, but the taste was too good, so he drank, it felt so good. I groaned, man it was really getting me going. Then, I heard him moan. I smiled.

I was really getting going, so I reached down and unbuttoned his shirt, I threw it onto the floor. I then put my hands down to his belt and undid it, managed to undo the top button, then the second, man, I was getting there quick. I undid the zip; I then didn't have any idea of how to get them off of him.

He laughed. He had stopped drinking, I hadn't noticed, and he leant up and slid them off, he was just in his boxers now. Then I realised that it was my turn to get naked. He undid the buttons on my top, I sat up and he pulled it over my shoulders.

'Drink from me.' He told me, I grinned; I did love the taste of his blood. He drew his nail across his neck and I leant in and drank from him. I noticed that he was pulling my tracksuit bottoms down, they were at my feet, then he pulled them over them and they were off, he threw them onto the floor.

I was there in just my pants and bra. I felt rather vulnerable, but after a minute, I didn't care. I grabbed the top of his boxers and pulled them down, he then reached under me and undid my bra, and then he pulled it off of the front of me. I only had my pants on; he pulled them down pretty quick. I guessed my blood had really got him going, I like the thought of that.

When we were naked, Stark and I started to make love. When we were done, I fell asleep in his arms under the duvet.

**Next chapter, I want 17 reviews! **** 2 reviews at least? Come on easy peasy.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Stark**

I woke up and Zoey was asleep in my arms. She looked so beautiful. I hugged her in tighter to my body; it felt good to have her close to me, to know that she was safe. She looked calm; I hoped that my presence was keeping Kalona out of her dreams.

I just laid there watching her for a very long time, I looked at the clock, it was 12pm. we had been asleep for a while, and I guess everything seemed to go so quickly when you're with the person you love. We had made love for a very long time. At least this time, we were not disturbed, it seemed that every time that we were getting rather close, someone had to come in and spoil it, it was usually Aphrodite, and she seemed to enjoy the fact that she liked disturbing us.

I noticed Zoey stirring in her sleep, she was just waking up. She was still asleep though, 'Stark' she said. She was saying my name in her sleep. That meant, that she must be dreaming about me that thought made me grin. I bent down and kissed her on the head. Her eyes slowly started to open, she saw me and she smiled. I loved waking up to her, and being the first person that she saw when she wok up.

'Good morning beautiful' I said to her. She smiled at me. 'Awake at last are we.' I asked her. She started to smile.

'Yes, I am, and now that I am awake, I would like a kiss' she leant up to me and I kissed her on the lips.

'Did he come into your dreams?' I asked her. She knew who I meant.

'No. I had a very lovely dream about you and me running on the beach, and if I do say so myself, you looked very hot. You didn't have a top on, just some nice shorts. You looked amazing' I liked the sound of this dream. I smiled at her.

'I do look very good in shorts.' I said. I laughed. She grinned at me.

'I can imagine.' She said. I laughed again and leant down to kiss her.

'I bet that you looked better than I did though. In a bikini I do hope' I said. I like the thought of her in a bikini.

'You are so one track minded' she said. I laughed at her. I kissed her on the lips again.

'Do you want to go and get some food? I'm starved' I said.

'Yeah. Let me just have a shower. I won't be long.' She kissed me again and jumped out of bed. I watched her go into the bathroom, I watched until she shut the door.

I then went to the dresser and pulled out a blue shirt, I pulled it over my head then went to get a pair of jeans. I decided not to put a jumper on, because this shirt made my abs look really good.

When I was dressed, there was nothing to do, so I sat down on the bed and waited for Zoey. She came out the bathroom in a towel and she went straight to the wardrobe. She was in there for a few minutes, and then she came out in a yellow short sleeved top and a short white skirt. She had really good legs, I hadn't really noticed that before, but with that skirt, you couldn't help but notice. She then had a pair of white high heels on, they added quite a bit to her height. She came over to me and I stood up and pulled her into a hug, with the shoes on her she came to above my chin, and so I was almost looking into her eyes.

'Come on warrior, i'm hungry.' She said. She always was. I laughed. She led me out of the room by her hand.

'When we have eaten, I think that I am going to go and do some arrows practice. I haven't done any in a while.' I said. 'If there is going to be a battle, then I need to be up to scratch.' I didn't like to think about being away from her while I was practicing, what if I thought about her and shot an arrow?

'Can I watch?' she asked. I would love for her to see me practicing. But it was too dangerous.

'No. it is too dangerous. What if I think about you?' I asked her.

'Then, that is my risk.' She said.

'No. you're not watching. End of. It is too dangerous. I don't want to hurt you.' I told her. 'I don't know how I am going to be in a battle with my bow, because the whole time, I will be thinking about you, and so I won't be able to shoot an arrow.' I said. That was really going to be hard.

'You can't not use your arrow. You might get killed. It's too dangerous. It will just have to be a risk to take.' She said. It was dangerous, but I didn't want to risk hitting her and being the one to kill her.

'I will just have to learn how to fight. Which, by the way, we are going to need to all become good with fighting; we are all going into this battle.' I said. I thought that maybe it was best if Jack didn't fight, I don't know why, but I just had that feeling about him fighting, but I knew that he wouldn't not fight, he wouldn't want to leave Damien.

'I was thinking the same thing' Zoey said. I hadn't even thought about the mental talk that we had. 'I have a feeling that he won't be able to survive, and I don't like to think about what that is going to do to Damien' she said. She was right; it would kill Damien if he lost Jack. They were a really cute couple together, it would just be so sad if they weren't together.

'What are you going to do about it?' I asked her

'I am going to talk to Damien, then to Jack. I think that they should make the choice.' She said. It was a good plan.

'After breakfast, I am going to go and find Erce and ask her where I can find someone who can help us to learn to fight' she said.

That would have been a good idea, if we didn't have Darius.

'You don't need to. We have Darius, he knows how to fight, plus, so do I.' I didn't know that she didn't know that I knew how to fight, I was a bit rusty, I hadn't fought in a while, but I used to be a good fighter, even without my bow.

'Oh yeah. I will talk to him over breakfast.' She said. 'Then I will talk to Damien and Jack.' She said. I nodded and we went out and had breakfast.

**Zoey**

When we went for breakfast, everyone was there. I went to sit beside Darius.

'Hey.' I said as I grabbed a piece of toast and put some butter on it.

'Good morning high priestess. You look happy this morning.' He said. I blushed; I knew why I was happy. I looked up, Aphrodite was staring at me. She mouthed something, I blinked then looked again, _after this, and we talk. _Oh great, she knew.

'So, what with the poem, it seems that we have a battle coming.' I said. 'Darius, we will need help learning how to fight, can you teach us?' I asked him.

'Of course. I will do my best to make you all good fighters. Do we know how much time that we have? It may be difficult if I don't know how much time, I need to get the basis done, but if attacked, they will not save your life.'

'I don't know. But Stark says that he also knows how to fight, so he can help you teach.' I said. I turned to Stark, he nodded.

'Ok. That should make it slightly easier having helped. When shall we start?' he asked.

'As soon as we can. How about right after breakfast?' I asked.

'That is fine by me.' He said. 'I shall go and get things ready.' He said. He got up and left.

Aphrodite scooted over and took his seat. 'We need a talk after breakfast' she said to me. I blushed.

'Fine, but first I need to talk to Jack and Damien' I said. She looked confused. But I didn't care. I got up and went over to Jack and Damien.

'Can I have a word with you too?' I asked them.

'Of course you can.' Damien said. 'Do you want to do it here or in private?' he asked.

'It is probably better in private.' I said.

_Do you want me to come?_ Stark asked me mentally. I did, but I thought it might be better if I did it on my own.

_No thanks. I can do this on my own. Thanks for the offer though. Love you._ I sent back mentally, and then I left the room with Damien and Jack following me.

'What is it Z?' Damien asked as soon as Jack shut the door.

'Nothing to worry about. But I have been thinking, and I just think that it would be a good idea if, I don't mean to offend you guys or anything, but I think that it would be best if Jack didn't go to the battle.' They looked at me with their mouths open. I had offended them. Oops.

'Why?' Damien asked. I looked around the room, then back at them.

' I just have this feeling that something will happen to him, and what with the poem, saying that we are going to lose people, I just thought that it would be really sad if we lost Jack. I'm just trying to make sure that he doesn't get hurt' I said. I hoped that they understood.

'But, are you saying that I can't, or are you giving me the choice?' Jack asked.

'You have the choice, of course I am not going to take your choice away. If you wish to come and risk it, you can. I just didn't want for you to get hurt and you know..?' I couldn't finish the sentence, but they knew what I meant.

'I'm going to battle' Jack said. 'As you said, it's dangerous, and I wouldn't be able to stand being here and not knowing what is happening to everyone. I'm sorry if you disagree' he said to me.

'No, I don't. It is your choice. I just had to warn you.' I said.

'Thank you for the warning, but I am going to fight' he said. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. I really hoped that I was wrong about this; it would be horrid if something was to happen to Jack, and he was so sweet and caring.

'Come on. Let's go practice' I said. We left the room smiling. We saw that the others were still at the table. I went to Stark. I sent him a mental message. _He wants to fight. So I said he could, it isn't fair that he doesn't, like he said, not knowing what was happening or if Damien was hurt or something. I'd hate it if I was here and you were fighting. _He looked sad, I knew that he was worried for Jack, I was too.

_I would never stop you from fighting; you're the one who is going to defeat him. You are the one that we are all going to fight to keep alive. Even if we have to die to make sure. _I hated it when he said that, even if someone has to die, he always you to say, even if my heart has to stop beating, I hated the idea.

_Well then, let's try to not let that happen them hey? _I joked. _Come on, let's go practice._

We got up to leave, he took my hand and kissed me on the lips, just as we were walking out, someone grabbed my wrist and spun me back.


	13. Chapter 12

**Okey, here you guys go.. the 12****th**** chapter.. I have done another, so I might upload that in a bit. We'll see. **

…………………………………………………………………………………………**..**

**Zoey**

I was just leaving with Stark, when someone grabbed my wrist and spun em around,I came face to face with Aphrodite.

'I just need a chat with Zoey.' She said. 'you guys go, we wont be long' she said. I sighed and turned to Stark. I kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear 'I wont be long. I love you.' He smiled and whishpered back

'love you too. Don't take too long, I'll miss you.' I turned and went with Aphrodite.

'you had sex.' She said. It wasn't a question, but I felt the need to answer it.

'yes, I did.' I said. I smiled.

'Zo. I need to tell you, I had a vision' uh oh. She didn't seem to happy.

'what happened in it?' I asked her.

'it was you and Stark, Kalona came in and said 'this cannot happen, my A-ya has not got enough love for the both of us, there is no room for you in her life. She has no need for a warrior, I am here to protect her.' and then, he went over to Stark, and, and, and he broke his neck. He killed him Z!' she shouted.

I had to sit down. I didn't like to think about Stark getting hurt. I drew in a deep breath. 'what am I going to do?' I asked.

'Z, I think you need to break up with Stark, I know you don't want to, and it will break his heart, but its what is best for him' I knew that she was right, but the thought of being away from Stark, of breaking up with him, of breaking his heart, it hurt, I didn't think that I could do it. I didn't want to. I loved him.

'I cant.' I said. 'I just cant do that to him. It would kill him, and me for that matter.' I said. I didn't want Stark to be hurt because of the love that we shared, but I couldn't break up with him, I didn't know what I was going to do.

'it is the only thing that I can think of. Z, I think that that is the only way Kalona will leave him alone.' She was sad at this, I knew that she liked Stark, even though she wouldn't admit it.

'what are you going to do?' she asked me.

'im going to talk to Stark about it, he should have a choice in the matter' I said. He did deserve to chose, it was his life.

'ok. But Zo. Seriously, as much as I would hate yo admit it, and if you ever repeat this, I will deny it, but, I like Stark, id hate to see him get his feelings hurt and stuff'

'I know. I don't want to see him hurt either. Come on, lets go' I said. We left the room. We went into the garden, I had no idea where they were. 'do you know where they are?' I asked Aphrodite.

'no. I didn't even think about asking.' She got out her phone and rang Darius.

'hey warrior. Where are you?' he answered, 'ok. We wont be long. Love you' she said and she hung up the phone. They are out at the back, through the hedge there and in the field. We walked over there, we squeezed through a gap in the fence. They were all there, stood in the middle of the field.

When we were through the gap, I saw Stark. I hadn't been apart form him long, but it was good to see him again. I smiled and walked over to him. When I got there, I hugged him and he bent to give me a kiss.

'whats wrong?' he asked. he could feel my emotions.

'not now. Later. We need to talk. It is really important' I told him. He looked worried, I didn't like to see him upset, so I reached up to touch my lips to him and kissed him.

Darius then came over to us. He wrapped his arm around Aphrodites waist and kissed her on the cheek. They were such a cute couple.

'Stark. There is a target over there.' He pointed to a target in the corner of the field 'You can go and do some practice. Stevie Rae, there is another target over there' he pointed to another target, nearer to us this time' you can practice there with earth. Damien, there is a target there' hepinted again to another target near us, 'you can practice with Air there. Shaunee, there is a target over there' he pointed to a target a bit further than the others' you can practice with fire. Erin, there is a target over there' he pointed to the one next to Shaunee's 'you can practice with water there. You all can go to your targets and start practicing.' He said.

Stark, Damien, Shaunee, Erin and Stevie Rae all walked over to their targets and started to practice. There was just me, Jack and Aphrodtie left.

'zoey, can you master all of your elements?' he asked me.

'yes, I have complete control over them' I said.

'ok. Then you can learn how to shoot an arrow. There is a target over there' he pointed to a target at the end of the field, it was on the other side of the field to Starks, 'you can practice there. Jack, you can, err, what can you do?' he asked Jack.

'err, im good with technology.' Jack said.

'that does not help us now does it? idiot' Aphrodite said.

'it could. We just need to learn how.' Darius said. I was trying to think of what Jack could do, but I was coming up blank, I had absoloutly no idea. Then it came to me.

'jack could do the plans on the computer. So he shows us where is a good place for a fight, then where is a better place for us to be, and where Kalona would be, where is dangerous, where we could hide something.' I said. It wouldn't exactly help, but it could be kind of useful.

'ok. Jack, could you do that?' Darius asked him.

'with my eyes closed.' Jack said.

'good, then when you have done that, you can learn to shoot an arrow.' Darius said. 'now, Aphrodite, I have been thinking, I think that it would be best if you were not at the fight. There is nothing that you could do, and if you were to get into danger, I wouldn't be able to protect you.' He was right, there was nothing that she could do.

'what? How do ou expect me to stay here and not know what has happened to anybody? I could like, shoot arrows or something. I don't know, but I don't want to do nothing. What if no one comes back, what would I do then?' it was true, I would hate it if I were human again and Stark was going to fight and I couldn't be with him, knowing if he was dead or alive.

'maybe she could shoot some arrows, from far away.' I said.

She smiled at me. 'yeah, I could do that' she said. Darius didn't look pleased.

'fine. You can go and work on the target next to Zoey's. there is a bow and arrow there for you to use. You go and I shall walk around and see how everyone is doing.'

Me and Aphrodte walked off to our targerts.

'thank you.' She said. I knew what for, I had helped her be able to fight, but then, what if something happened to her and she died? Would Darius blame me?

'its ok. But you have to stay away from the fight. Otherwise Darius is going to go crazy trying to protect you.' I said. She looked sad, but she nodded. Then, we reached our targets.

'do you know how to shoot?' she asked me. I didn't, I had never shot a bow and arrow in my life.

'no. do you?' I asked her. she shook her head. 'what are we going to do?' she asked me.

'maybe I could send Stark a mental message?' I asked.

'no.' she said.

'why not? He could teach us' I told her, it hurt me that she didn't want Starks help.

'because if you send him a mental note, he will think about you, and what if he is about to let an arrow go, and then he gets your message, so he thinks about you, then he lets it go. It could it you.' That was true, I hadn't even thought about it.

'true.' I said. 'I guess we could just wait for Darius.' I said.

'yeah, that seems a good idea.' She said. We sat down on the ground and waited for Darius. When he came, he showed us how to shoot. We practiced all day, well, night. It was going to get light soon.

'ok, everyone. That is enough for today. Go and have dinner then go to bed, we will practice again tomorrow.' He said. I was going to go in, but I decided that I needed more practice. I hadn't hit my target a lot.

Aphrodite was leaving. 'come on Zoey' she said. I turned.

'I think I am going to practice a bit longer.' I said.

'ok. Don't take to long. Sun is going to come up soon.' She said.

'I wont. See you later.' I turned back to the target, I wasn't far off, but if I was going to hit the raven mockers, I was going to be more accurate.

I had been out here alone for about ten minutes, when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I turned around and was face to face with Stark.

'Aphrodite said that you were still practing, so I came out to help you.' He said. He was so sweet.

'thank you. But the sun is coming up. You need to get inside.' I told him. He laughed.

'don't worry. I will be fine. It wont be up for a bit.' He hugged me again. 'so, do you want me to show you how to hit the target everytime?' he asked. I really did want his help.

'yes please.' I said. He stood beside me and help my hands around the bow.

'you need to line it up. Ok?' I looked at it, it was alined.

'yeah, then what?' I asked

'shut one eye, still alined?' he asked

I did as he said. 'yeah still alined.'

'ok, then let it go.' I let it go. It hit the center. I screamed.

'yay!!' I hugged him really tight. 'thank you so much!' I kissed him on the lips.

'its ok. Come on, try again.' I tried again and hit it. I hugged him again. 'well done. Now, you've done enough practice. It is time to go and get osme food then sleep.' He said.

'fine.' I said and we walked back hand in hand. While we were walking he asked me 'when are you going to tell me what is wrong?' I had forgotten about that.

'its Kalona.' I said. He stopped.

'Zo. Did he get in your dream?'

'no. but Aphrodite had a vision.' I told him.

'yeah, and what happened?' he asked

'you and me were together. Then Kalona burst in and saw us, he said that A-ya only had enough love for him, and he wasn't going to share me, he said that I didn't need a warrior. Then, then, then he killed you.' I was crying in the end and I hugged him really tight.

'Zo. Its alright. Calm down. It is going to be ok.' He tried to calm me down. Did he not understand? It meant that he was going to be killed.

'don't you get it. it means that if we stay together, then Kalona is going to kill you. We cant stay together, I don't want you to get hurt.' I said. Iwas crying so much. I didn't want to lose him. He put his hand under my chin and lifted my face to look into his eyes.

'Zo. I love you. Nothing is going to change that. Not Kalona. Nothing. It doesn't matter what Aphrodite has a vision about, I am not going to leave you. I love you. I don't care if that means Kalona is going to try and kill me, he cant stop us being together' he bent down and kissed me.

'but Stark. I don't want to lose you. If he kills you because I love you, then it will be my fault, I don't want to be the reason that you die.'

'Z. I don't care. I am not leaving you. I love you too much, it would kill me to be away from you. If it means Kalona is going to try and kill me, then that is whatt it means. But that doesn't change anything.' He bent and kissed me again. 'now come on. lets have dinner then go to bed and forget about this' he lead me back to the dining room. We sat down and had dinner, he held my hand the whole time.

When we were done, we went back to our room. I went fro a shower, I was really tired, the arrows had taken a lot of effort out of me. When I got out I went into the room and went to the wardrobe and put my halter neck top on and some shorts. I went back into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, then I came back out to Stark.

'you can have a shower now' I told him. He got up and gave me a quick hug.

' I wont be long. Love you' he kissed me then went into the shower. I sat on the bed and waited for him, I didn't want to go to sleep incase Kalona came to my dream, so I was just going to wait for Stark.

When he came out, he had a towel wrapped around his waist. My mouth literally fell open, he looked so good. He saw me and laughed. He went to the draws and got a pair of tracksuit type bottom pyjamas out and then put them on. he came over to me and kissed me.

'ready for bed?' he asked me.

'yeah. Im so tired.' I said, just as I said it I yawned. He laughed.

'come on' he said and he got into the bed and he patted the bit next to him, I went over and got in and snuggled up to him. He wrapped his arm around my waist.

'good night. I love you. Sweet dreams.' He whispered in my ear.

'I love you too' I said back. Then I fell asleep in my warriors arms.

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**Okey, so how excited are you guys? Burned is released next Tuesday,.. it is like 4 days 3 hours and like 30 minutes… I am not sad enough to count it ( don't worry ) there is a fan website I was on and it showed me.**

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	14. Chapter 13

Okey, here you go.. I decided to be lovally, 2 chapters in 1 eveing. You lucky devils.

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**Zoey**

When I woke up, Stark was snoring. I wondered if he had dreamed. Then, I had an idea. I shut my eyes and thought of my memory of Stark. Then, a vision flashed through my mind.

_Stark was sitting on a sofa looking over at something with a huge grin on his face, he looked so happy. I looked over to see what he was looking at, then, I couldn't help but laugh, it was me. I was dancing around the room with my friends just being idiots. When I looked back at Stark, he looked so happy, just happy to be watching me. He was the best. _

Then, a thought hit me, could I go and sit next to him to talk? I was just about to, my foot was lifting off the floor and my mouth was opening, when the scene changed, all of a sudden, we were on san Clement Island, at the top of the castle.

Oh great. This was a Kalona dream right? But, surely Kalona wouldn't want to get into Starks dreams? I mean, he was straight; Kalona wouldn't have the appeal to him would he?

With all the questions running through my head, I hadn't noticed Stark standing at the edge of the castle, obviously wondering if it would hurt if he jumped. I knew it didn't hurt, but it sure as hell scared you when you woke up.

Then, before anything could happen I heard Kalona 'if you jump, I'll just come to your next dream, you might as well get it over with now.' I turned around; there he was, in his black trousers and nothing else, just watching Stark.

'What do you want?' Stark asked him. I then turned to look at Stark; I decided it was safer to look at him than Kalona.

'My A-ya' he said. He was really annoying with the whole _my _bit, and the _A-ya _bit; he really got on my nerves.

'She is not yours. And her name is Zoey' Stark said. See, him I liked, no _my _Zoey. He was the best warrior ever.

'We will see. But anyway, I called you to me to tell you that if you stay by her side as her warrior and her consort, I will kill you. She has not got enough room for you. She is in love with me. 'He said. This brought back the memory of Aphrodite's vision. But, I wouldn't let Kalona hurt Stark, not after what happened with Heath. Plus, if Aphrodite was right, then I was going to be there. I could save Stark.

'I won't leave her. As long as you are here, she needs a warrior. As for the consort, I'm not her consort. I'm her boyfriend.' He smiled when he said that. So did I, we hadn't made it official or anything, but we kind of were boyfriend and girlfriend.

'I would not hurt my A-ya. A-'he was about to continue when Stark cut him off.

'You did hurt her. You killed her consort. You nearly killed her when you killed him. All so that she wouldn't find out your little secret, although, unluckily for you, she did. She and Heath had an imprint; they could talk through their minds. He told her. You killed him too late' Stark said. He was clearly enjoying winding Kalona up. It made me want to laugh, but they might see me.

When I thought of them seeing me, I wondered why they couldn't, I was here, and they should be able to right? But, oh well, not the time to think about it.

'When I killed the human' he said the word with distaste 'I did it because it is what is best for her. She just doesn't know it yet. I mean, clearly, my killing her consort has helped your relationship with her has it not? I mean, you are now girlfriend and boyfriend.' It is what is best for me? Ha. Yeah right.

'How would breaking her soul and her heart be best for her? She is devastated, she will never be fully over the loss of Heath, and she loved him.' Stark was always so good, sticking up for Heath was really sweet of him. 'and, as for his death helping our relationship, I would rather things were how they used to be, she was happy then, she had Heath, I'd do anything to make it how it should be, if it was that you killed me and she was happy with Heath.' My mouth was literally open when he said this. He had never told me this, I was happy, I missed Heath a lot, but being able to say goodbye and see him one last time, it really helped and I was now happy. I was happy with my life with Stark. It hurt to think that he wasn't.

'She didn't really love him, she just thought she did, and yes, it may have hurt her soul when he died, but she recovered, she is fine now. And he is forgotten. Just as you will be when I kill you' Kalona said to Stark. I didn't really love Heath? That was a load of bullpoopie.

'She did love him, you can't say she didn't, even you know that she did. Heath will never be forgotten, not by Zoey, not by me and not by his friends, he will live on in our memories and hearts, we all really liked him' Stark was so good defending Heath, I never knew he liked him that much.

'He will live on in our memories and hearts, what are you? A sappy girl? Your hardly fit to be a warrior' that was it for me, he had insulted Heath and now he was saying Stark wasn't fit to be a warrior, he was the best warrior anyone could have. I called the elements to me and I aimed them all at Kalona, I could see when he felt them, air blew him away from Stark, earth took him into the ground, fire burned him, water made it harder for him to breath and spirit made him feel guilty.

Stark looked surprised, I mean, Kalona had just been taken away by the ground and burnt had trouble breathing, been made guilty and he had been blown away from him by air. Stark just stood there and blinked a few times, then he looked straight at where I was standing, he looked straight at me, but it didn't look like he was looking at me, so I guess I couldn't be seen here. I didn't know how I was supposed to get out, so I did what I did to get in, except I thought of myself, I felt my feet leave the ground, then hit ground again, when I opened my eyes I was stood in mine and Starks room, right where I had been when I tried to get into his dream.

He was still asleep so I decided that I would go and have a shower. I spent a long time in the shower, I just stood there like an idiot thinking about Starks dream and Aphrodite's vision, when I finally snapped out of it, I still hadn't made my mind up, and so I decided that I would get out the shower now. So I got out and looked in the mirror, Uggh, I looked like absolute crap. I looked really tired and had big bags under my eyes; my skin looked awful and really pale. I wondered how Stark could ever have feelings for me if I looked like this?

So, I decided for his sake that I was going to look nice today, after all, that wasn't exactly the best of dreams. So I put on foundation and powder, I looked a nice tan colour, it took a lot of foundation to cover up the bags under my eyes, then I decided that I would go for a nice calm and relaxing blue eye shadow, then I put some eyeliner on, I decided to do my top and bottom, then I put on my best mascara, it was in this red bottle and said _eye me up _it made my lashes look amazing.

When I had done my make up I went into the room, Stark was still asleep so I decided that I would go to the wardrobe. I found a really nice pair of jeans, they were dark blue with cuts up the legs, then I decided to put on my Abercrombie top that said _flirts well with others _it was blue and it was really tight.

When I came out of the wardrobe, Stark was just yawning and starting to stretch. I smiled and grinned at him. 'Morning sleepy' I said to him.

'Morning beautiful' he said and pulled me down to him. He kissed me on the lips and hugged me.

'Nice dreams?' I asked. I wondered if he was going to tell me about his Kalona dream.

'Yeah. Shouldn't it be me asking you that though? It's your dreams Kalona wants to get into, not mine.' He was trying to joke, but because I knew about his dream, I couldn't smile back.

'I had a wonderful dream. I'm glad you did' I said. I raised my eyebrows at him.

'What? What are you looking at me like that for?' he asked.

'No reason.' I kissed him on the lips. 'Come on. Its breakfast time and I'm hungry' I told him. He seemed to find this funny and he laughed at me.

'You're always hungry' he joked.

'Well, thank you very much. I think I'm going to be having breakfast on my own then' I teased.

'Don't. I like having breakfast with you. Just give me a minute and I'll be ready.' He got up and went to the draws and got out a pair of jeans and a hoody, then he went into the bathroom, I hoped he would take a shower, he kind of needed one. I was relieved when I heard the shower running.

He was only in there five minutes, so I didn't have to wait long. I had just sat on the bed looking at nothing in particular. Then he came out the door, man, and those jeans just made him look so good.

'What?' he asked.

'Huh? Oh – err, nothing. Come on breakfast' I said. I got up to leave but he caught my wrist and caused me to spin around so I was wrapped up in his arms.

'What were you thinking?' he asked me. I blushed.

'Nothing' I said, but I still had the blush on my cheeks.

'You were obviously thinking something, what was it?' he asked again.

I decided I might as well answer, he wasn't one to give up 'I was just noticing how the jeans make you look really good' I said. Then I blushed again.

'Thank you. Your jeans don't make you look to bad yourself either' he said and he leant down and kissed me.

'Come on, breakfast.' I said.

'Yeah.' He said. We were walking out of the room and heading to the kitchen when I heard Stark going 'Uggh.' I turned quickly, I thought something was wrong.

I was right in his face; I thought he was in pain 'what, what's wrong?' I asked him.

'Nothing. I just realised we then have fighting practice' he said. Oh, was that all? I thought it was something bad, like Kalona was torturing him or something.

'Oh. You had me worried.' I said.

'I didn't knew you cared so much' he joked, but that brought back the memories of his dream.

'Of course I care. I love you, a lot. You know that right?' I asked him.

'Of course I know that. I love you too, a lot.' Then he reached down to me and kissed me again. I took his hand and we walked to the kitchen.

I sat down at the table next to Stark and Aphrodite.

'Morning. Ready for practice?' she asked.

'Morning. Yeah, I am, are you?' I asked her

'Yeah, I am. Are we doing the same as yesterday?' she asked.

'Yeah, I think so. You'd have to ask Darius.' I bent forward to look around the table for him, but he wasn't there. 'Speaking of, where is he?' I asked her, she was bound to know.

'Oh, he got up extra early so that he could go set everything up' she said.

'Oh right. When did he go?' I asked her. 'Did he have breakfast?'

'He went like 10 minutes ago, no he didn't. I might take him a sandwich' she leant across the table and got two pieces of bread and some butter and ham. She made them into a sandwich for him.

'Right nerd herd, are you ready for fighting practice' she said.

We all got up and headed out to the field for practice. When we got out there Darius was waiting for us.

'Stark, you go back to where you were practicing yesterday' Stark started to head off to where he was going, when I grabbed his wrist and pulled him back round.

'See you later. I'll miss you.' I said, and then I got up onto my tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.

'See you later. If you want, I'll help you later? After I've had enough.' He asked me.

'I'd like that very much warrior' I said. Then I leant up on my tiptoes to give him another kiss.

'Alright then. I'm going to go and do some practices, I won't be long.' He bent down to give me a kiss again.

He then turned to walk off to his target. I watched him walk; man did his arse look well.

I suddenly noticed Aphrodite shaking my arm. 'Yeah, as great as Stark's arse is, it isn't going to help us defeat Kalona. Come on Zoey, time to practice.' She said.

'Huh? What?' I said turning to face her.

She laughed at me. 'Come on' she said. I turned back to watch Stark for one more second, when I did I noticed him looking back at me, he was clearly laughing.

Then I got a mental thought from him _watching my arse were you? _

_Shut up. I was observing, that's all. Go shoot some arrows. Then hurry over to me. _I couldn't help but smile at the thought of him coming to help me again.

_Right away my lady _he said.

_See you later. Love you _I thought back to him. Then turned to go with Aphrodite.

The whole time we were practicing all I wanted to do was send a mental note to Stark to tell him to hurry, but I couldn't, in case he was just letting an arrow go and it shot me. I didn't want to die, so I just had to be patient.

I was thinking of Stark when I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around my waist.

'Daydreaming my lady?' he asked. I turned and smiled at him.

'Yes. Thank goddess you're finished. I missed you' I reached up and kissed him.

'You should've said. I would have come over' he said. Then he bent down to kiss me again.

'Yeah, but if I sent you a mental note just as you were letting an arrow go, I'd become a kebab. So I decided that I just had to be patient. Which, apparently paid off. You came soon enough' I said. I noticed the sadness in his eyes, I know he was thinking of how I could never watch him practice, in case he got distracted by me and accidentally shot me.

The stupid thing was, if I was to die, at least it would be him. He would be the last thing I saw. That was a better option than Kalona. Thinking of Kalona, it reminded me of Starks dream, I reached up to kiss him again. I wanted him to know that I really was happy that I was with him and that I was over Heath, but I didn't want to tell him I was spying on him in his dream.

'Come one. You need to practice' he said. 'I saw some of those arrows you shot, they were awful' he teased.

'If you'd prefer, you could go help Aphrodite' I said. He looked that way and saw Aphrodite.

'You know what, I think I'm ok here thanks' he said.

'You know, I may be human, but I'm not deaf' she said.

'Sorry' Stark said. He was looking away from her and towards me, so I was the only one who could see the big grin on his face. It was so nice to see him smile; he looked seriously hot when he smiled.

'Come on' I said. He put an arm around my waist and kissed me on the cheek. Then he let go and stood behind me and put his hand over mine, then he loaded the arrow into the bow, he showed me the aim thing we had done yesterday, then he told me to let it go, when I did, it hit the centre of the target.

I was so happy. I was jumping up and down. Then Stark pulled me into a nig hug, my feet were off of the floor. I was so comfy in his arms. I was level with his face for once; I was usually around his chin. So I used this to my advantage and kissed him on the lips. He returned my kiss. We stayed like that for a few minutes, and then I heard Aphrodite clearing her throat.

Stark then put me back on my feet, we were both panting. I smiled though. He gave me a quick hug, and then we started shooting arrows again.

We spent the rest of the day shooting arrows; I had no idea what the others were doing with their targets. Stark had spent the whole time teaching me and Aphrodite, so Darius was able to help the others. I liked having Stark as a teacher, he was really good. Me and Aphrodite were really getting the hang of it.

'When we have done this, what are we going to do?' I asked.

Stark gave me a question mark look.

'Come on, we can't just be shooting arrows and whatever they're doing in this battle. Surely were going to fight, as in proper fight' I explained

'Yeah, I guess your right' he said.

'Someone is going to have to teach us. Do you know how to fight?' I asked him.

'Yeah, I know a bit, not loads though' he said.

'You could teach me' I said

'No' he said really quickly, I was rather insulted that he didn't want to teach me.

'Why not?' I asked him.

'Because, to teach you, I would have to show you stuff, I would have to attack you. I am never going to fight you.' he said.

'You're being stupid. If you taught me, you'd probably be saving my life' I told him.

'Yeah, as great as that is, I'm still not teaching you. And when Darius teaches you, I shall be inside reading' he said. What?! He wasn't going to watch me?!

'Your not even going to watch me fight?!' I asked.

'Zoey, I would love to see you fight. But I don't want to see someone attacking you, as your warrior, I'm supposed to protect you, I'd probably end up attacking Darius for trying to hurt you' he said to me.

'You're so overprotective' I grumbled.

'I'm trying to keep you safe.' He said, then he bent down to give me a kiss, I decided that I wasn't going to let him kiss me unless he watched me, so I ducked down so he tried kissing air.

He looked at me with a question mark on his face. 'Watch me fight and you can have as many kisses as you want' I tried to bargain.

It didn't work. He crouched down and put his hand under my chin, then he brought his face closer to mine, then he kissed me. I was going to push him off, but once his lips touched mine, my resistance crumbled. I ended up kissing him back.

I got a bit to into the kiss; I ended up pushing him onto the floor and was lying on top of him making out. I only stopped because I heard Aphrodite 'err, you two, there is a battle we're trying to make sure we don't die in. get up and work'

So I rolled off of Stark onto my back. He jumped up and offered me his hand, I took it and he pulled me up quickly, I almost jumped into his arms.

Then Darius came over. 'I think that is enough for the day. You can go inside now.' We all headed back into our rooms. I went in and crashed on the bed.

'Aphrodite is so grumpy' Stark said.

'She is worried about Darius. He is going to be our main fighter, he will be in the most danger, they'll try to take him out first, plus, he wont let her come to the battle, he said that as a human she will be in too much danger.' I told him.

Then I realised something. Stark was our other main fighter, he would be killing most of the raven mockers with his arrow; they'd aim to take him out first as well. Stark noticed that I had frozen. He shook my shoulders gently.

'Zoey, what is it?' he asked worrying about me.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. 'I just realised something.' I said to him.

'What Zo, what have you realised?' he asked.

'You're going to be out other main fighter, you'll be killing loads of raven mockers with your arrow, you'll be the one they take out first.' By the end I was in tears. I was amazed he understood.

'Zo. Calm down, don't worry about me. I told you, I'm not using my arrow anyway. I don't want to be thinking of you and accidentally shoot you' he said and he pulled me against him.

'You have to. Otherwise you're weaker, and then they could kill you. I'd rather you shot me accidentally and lived' I said

'Zoey, don't be so stupid. It would kill me if I killed you' he said. I knew it would kill him if after all his effort to keep me alive, he killed me himself.

'I know, but I don't want to lose you. If you then die, it will be because of me, because you didn't want to use your arrow in case you shoot me accidentally.' I was crying again.

He pulled me against his chest and held me there. I cried for a long time. When my tears finally went, I was exhausted.

'Are you hungry?' Stark asked me. It was dinner time.

I wasn't but I needed dinner anyway. I got up and left our room with Stark. I sat next to him, I was so tired, and I didn't even notice what I was eating. When I was done, I left with Stark; he had his arm around me and was pretty much carrying me.

When we got into our room I went into the bathroom and got in the shower. When I was out I then wrapped a towel around myself and went into the room, in the corner of my eye, I noticed Stark watching me, but I was too tired to do anything. I went into the wardrobe and put on some sweats and a hoody.

When I came out Stark was just pulling a shirt over his head. He was in sweats too. Then I walked over to him and he wrapped his arm around my waist and led me to the bed. I was pretty much asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I was too exhausted to dream. I had a great night sleep, safe in my warrior's arms.


	15. Chapter 14

**Hey guys. I am SO pleased! Burned is out? Have you got it yet? I got mine this morning **** like 2 hours ago… :D I have read the first 10 chapters. What do you guys think of it? let me know..**

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**Zoey**

When I woke up I felt like I had been asleep for hours. I stretched out, I took up the whole bed. Then all of s a sudden, I felt my arms hit something hard and push it out of the bed, then I heard a loud bang.

I blinked in shock. Then all of a sudden Stark jumped up from the flor looking around all warrior like.

'what was that for?' he asked.

I blushed. 'sorry. I was stretching' I said. He grinned and climbed back into the bed. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. 'its time to get up lazy bones' I teased him.

'but I'm comfy' he complained. I laughed and untucked myself from his arms and climbed out the bed.

'I'm going for a shower. you can get dressed' I told him.

'fine. I'll see you when your done. Then we can have breakfast' he said. I grinned. I was hungry again.

I went into the bathroom and got into the shower. the water was nice and warm. I grabbed my Tony & Guy shampoo for brown hair. I pumped it into my hand and then rubbed it into my hair. When I was washing it out I accidentally got it in my eyes, it was burning hot so I was jumping around rubbing my eyes, in the end I leant out the shower and rubbed my eyes on a towel.

Hen I had done that, I leant back into the shower and reached for the Tony & Guy conditioner for brown hair. I pumped it into my hand and smoothed it into my hair. I then decided that it was time to shave my legs, they hadn't been shaved for a long time. So I got my gilete razer that I had brought with me in my wash bag and shaved quickly. Then I washed the conditioner out of my hair.

When I had done that, I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my hair, and a towel around my body. I was going to let my hair dry naturally, but if I did that then It would get bumps in it, so I got the hair drier and dried it. it took about 10 minutes. When that was done, I decided that I wanted it tied up today, so I put it into a high ponytail.

With my hair out of my face, I did my make up. I put on my foundation and bronzer, it took a lot to cover up the bags under my eyes, they looked like I had been punched, then I put my rimmel eye liner on, my eyes looked good in eye liner. Then I put my eyeshadow on, I had a really nice yellow, so I decided that I was going to put it on. then I put my mascara on, the same one was yesterday with _eye me up _written on it.

When I came out, Stark was sitting on the bed, he was in a white top, it was rather tight, it made his muscles look goid. Then he had a pair of black jeans on, they made him look even better. I was almost dribbling when I looked him over, he just looked so damn good.

He saw me looking him over and he started laughing.

'what are you dribbling at?' he asked me.

'you. do you have a problem with that?' I asked him.

He chuckled, 'of course I don't' he said.

When he said that I went over to him and kissed him on the lips. 'I love you' I said to him.

'I know. I love you too' he said. He pulled me down to him so I was laying on top of him. He was kissing me still. I laughed and started to push myself up, but he pushed my wrists out, so I fell back down on top of him. He laughed again.

'come on, we have to be going, its time for breakfast. Plus, I need to get dressed' I told him.

'can we not have a bit of fun before you get dressed?' he asked.

Uggh, how I would love to have a bit of fun before breakfast. I smiled.

'hmm. Oh, I don't know. What's in it for me?' I teased.

'how about, me?' he bargained.

I liked the sound of that bargain. 'hmm, maybe that will do. Fine. But I better get all of you' I teased.

He put his mouth bag on mine and started kissing me deeply. Then, before I knew it my towel was on the floor and his shirt and trousers near them and we were having sex.

When we were finished, I was laying in his arms almost asleep. I need to get up, so I jumped up and went to the wardrobe. I found a nice white skirt, it wasn't very long, it just covered my bum. Then I found this yellow shirt that I had, it was one shouldered and went quite low, you could see the top of my boobs under the neck line. Then I decided that I had a really nice pair of white high heels that sort of strapped around you foot and tied at the back of your ankle, they wouldn't really be any good for walking in the field, but they were so cute so I didn't care.

When I came out Stark was sat where he had been when I came out the shower, he was fully dressed again. I went over to him.

'come on handsome, time for breakfast.' I said and held my hand out to him, he took it, I thought that he was going to use me to help get up, but he pulled me back on top of him.

'no. not now. Breakfast.' I said and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Then I pushed up from on top of him. I held my hand out to him again and he took it, this time using me to help get up.

When he got up we left the room hand in hand. Then we sat at the table next to each other. We held hands under the table. I saw Aphrodite stairing at us, I couldn't look at her though, so I just looked at Stark, he was looking at me.

I had a piece of bread with butter on it. when we were done we got up and went out into the field. I knew that I shouldn't have worn my shoes, I was making little holes and falling down. Stark was laughing at me the while time, and I was glaring back at him. So he decided to be a gentlemen and came to help me. I thought that he was just going to help me out the hole, but he knocked my knees out from under me and I fell into his arms and he carried me over to Darius.

I hears everyone laughing at me, but I didn't care, it was too comfy in Starks arms to mind being carried. Stark went to put me back on the ground and I moaned, I didn't want to be put back on the ground, I was too comfy in my warriors arms.

'do you want me to take you to your target?' he asked.

'yes, I would like that very much' I told him. He lifted back up and took me over to my target. When he got me there, he wanted to put me down, I still didn't want to, but in knew that I had to.

'I'll come over later and help you. I wont even be as long as yesterday.' He said. He was teasing me because I had missed him yesterday.

'fine. But I'll miss you' I said to him. He put my down on my feet again. I reached up to kiss him again. He gave me a hug and kissed the top of my head and then he turned and went to his target.

_Miss you already. I love you. _I sent to him

_I miss you too. I wont take long. Promise. I love you too._ He sent back.

I was watching him that whole time, he had just reached his target and was picking up his bow and arrow. i watched him shoot a few arrows, he hit the target everytime.

When I decided that I had watched him enough times I bent down and picked up my bow and arrow. I aimed at the target, just as I was about to let one go I heard Aphrodite talking.

'you and Stark had a bit of fun this morning then?' she asked.

'yes, we did. Whats it to you?' I asked her.

'nothing, I jus thought that you better not be getting even closer, what with my vision, I mean, Kalona doesn't think you have enough room to love them both, so, I wouldn't show too much love for Stark if I were you' she said.

'I have plenty of love. Plus, I am only in love with Stark, I have no feelings for Kalona, absoloutly none, except hate and disgust, but I don't think that counts.' I told him.

'yeah, but you say that now, but when your around him, your like madly in love with him.' She said.

'no, not any more, since he killed Heath, I have no feelings for him, except the ones of hate and disgust, and, when I have Stark with me, I am strong enough to control myself and keep myself on the right track' I said 'as long as I have Stark I can defeat Kalona' I told her.

'whatever, just don't forget, its his life your dealing with' she said and turned away and picked up her bow and arrow. I aimed mine back up aswell and aimed at the target, and just as I was about to let it go I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist. I smiled and turned around.

'hello warrior' I said and got up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss.

'hello gorgeous' he said to me. I smiled again. He was the best warrior ever.

'you were very quick' I told him. He had been, he had only been like 5 minutes. 'don't you need more practice?' I asked him.

'you tell me, you were watching me. I could see. I shot 100 arrows so I think that was enough. Don't you?' he asked.

'I only watched for a moment. I wanted to see you shooting arrows' I lied. I had watched because he looked so damn sexy.

'yeah yeah. Any way, come on, you need practice' he said.

'that is offensive' I said

'what is?' he asked

'saying I need practice, as if I'm a bad archist.' I said.

'nah, you aren't to bad really, I don't think it will take much longer till you've got the hang of it.' he said

'yeah? Well, then I can learn to fight' I tried to put a begging face on. I really wanted him to teach me how to fight.

'I'm not teahing you to fight. End of discussion' he told me. Then he put his hand on mine and helped me shoot the arrows like yesterday. It didn't take long for me to be doing it on my own.

'I'n bored' I complained. I'd been doing it for hours. What was worse was that I didn't need Starks help, so he was helping Aphrodte, I missed him, he had really helped me.

'there is nothing else you can do. You just hav to do that till Darius is ready' he said.

Then I had an idea. 'or, you could start to teach me the basics of learning to fight' I said.

All of a sudden, his arms were around my waist and he whispered in my ear 'I told you, im not teaching you to fight. No way. End of discussion' damn, I really wanted it to be him who taught me.

'but I want you to teach me. Please' I begged and blinked at him trying tolook cute. I looked at him from under my eyelashes.

I saw him looking at me, he was considering it after my begging.

'hmm. Well, I suppose t wouldn't hurt if I taught you a bit' he said. YES! That was all that I wanted.

I reached up and kissed him smack on the mouth. 'thank you so much. I love you with all of my heart.' I said to him.

He bent down and whishpered in my ear 'you are my heart' he said. Aww, he was so cute. I loved him so much.

Stark and I walked over to Darius at the top of the field, leaving Aphrodite to practice arrows.

'hello you two' he said,

'hey' we both said at the same time.

'can I help you?' he asked

'zoey is fed up of shooting arrows, and she has the hang of it, and she wants for me to teach her how to fight. I thought I might do it now.' Stark explained.

'ok. That's great. You two can go over there and practice' he pointed to a bit of field where no one was.

'ok' we both said.

'good luck' he told as and he turned back to help the others.

Stark and I walked over to our bit of field to practice hand in hand.

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**So as always… PLEASE review!! **


	16. Chapter 15

**Zoey**

Three hours later, practice was finally over. It was exhausting! And stark was a good fighter, but I think at the end, I was getting the hang of it. I was going to be sore tonight.

When we were finished, Stark and I went to our room, and I crashed out onto my bed. Stark looked at me and laughed.

'someone tired are they?' he joked.

'shut up. It was hard work. I'm going for a shower. I can tell, I absolutely stink.'

'your just perfect.' He said as he walked over to the bed.

'hmm, I never knew that you liked the sweaty and smelly type.' I joked.

'oh, how little you know about me. Now come here, stinky' he said, laughing.

'no. I stink. You might like the stinky type, but I don't. I need a wash.' Zoey said, as she got off of the bed. Heading towards the shower, she heard Stark chuckling. she ignored it and went for a shower.

**Stark**

I watched Zoey go into the bathroom. She was sweaty but she still smelt wonderful to me. She was always so self conscious with stuff like that, even though she had no need to be. She's perfect.

His inner thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock on the door. He contemplated getting up and answering the door but then decided he had better just incase it was important.

When he opened the door, Aphrodite was stood in the doorway, looking at her nails.

'What do you want?' he asked her, irritated.

'I need to speak to Zoey. It's important.' She told him, sounding as if she didn't like the way his mum used when she would tell him off.

'Can it wait? She's in the shower. I'll tell her you came by.' He was half expecting her to demand that she had to speak to Zoe immediately, but instead she just mumbled something and turned around and walked off.

Stark shut the door and turned around and went and slummed onto the bed. He wasn't planning on falling asleep but he was so tired that he felt his eyes drifting shut, and soon enough he was asleep.

It wasn't usual for Stark to get a dreamless nights sleep, but he was so tired he just slept.

The only thing that woke him up was when he felt something nudging him. He opened his eye and looked down at the bed next to him. He saw Zoey snuggled up against his side. He smiled and pulled her close to him.

He had to hold in a chuckle when he saw her smile when he pulled her in close.

He leant down and kissed her forehead. She made a satisfied noise in her throat. At this, he couldn't help but let a little chuckle escape when he heard it. He felt her nudge him in the ribs, he hadn't realised she was awake.

'Shut up and sleep' she mumbled against his shirt.

'I would, but I need to go and have a shower. I must stink.' he added jokingly at the end of it, imitating what she said when they'd spoken earlier.

'No. I'm comfy. Plus, you smell great. You always smell great. I like the way you smell.' She was starting to drift off, he could tell because of the way that she was rambling.

'Okay. You just sleep.' He felt her nod against his side and snuggle in tightly against her.

Soon, they both drifted off, wrapped up closely together.

**Zoey**

Waking up in Stark's arms was even better than a dream. I woke up to see him leaning over me, watching me, but still able to be protective.

'Morning Warrior' Zoey said smiling. she sat up and leant into his shoulder. He kissed her on the forehead.

'Morning Sleepy' he joked. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

'I love you' she said as she turned her face so that she could see his amazing amber eyes, framed by his tattoos.

'I love you too' he replied to her, almost immediately. She loved how he didn't need to think about it.

She put her hand around the back of her neck and pulled his face down to her. When their lips met, she immediately felt the sleep leave her. As his tongue entered her mouth, she couldn't help but moan.

She felt his chuckle as it went through his chest. She pulled him onto her, so he was laying over him and put her hand on his shirt. She was just throwing it across the room when there was a knock on the door.

They broke apart for a minute, looking at each other, an unasked question between them.

'Don't answer it. They can come back later' Stark mumbled, as he trailed kisses along her collar bone.

'It might be important. Anyway, I'm sure it wont take long.' She got up and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw Aphrodite.

She felt Stark's arm wrap around her waist.

'What the hell?' Aphrodite asked. 'Why didn't you come last night?'

Before Zoey could respond Stark looked a bit guilty before saying, 'oh yeh, forgot to say, Aphrodite dropped by. Said she needed to talk to you.'

'Good going. You forgot.' Aphrodite snapped at him, while giving him a death glare.

'Woops.' he said. 'I'm going for a shower' he said as he kissed Zoey on the cheek.

**Aphrodite**

When Stark left Zoey came out into the hall. 'Let's go to my room' Aphrodite said. 'Less people around.' She could tell that Zoey thought that Aphrodite meant Stark, but she had actually meant the annoying twins, interfering Damien and his boy toy Jack.

Zoey stepped back into her room went to the bathroom and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Stark opened it with a towel around his waist and shampoo bubbles in his hair.

'What's wrong? Something happened?' he asked immediately.

It was cute how close they were, and how protective he was over her. Aphrodite used to think that they were disgusting and that Stark was silly for being so protective, even when there was no danger. But now, she thought that it was sweet and that he was a good warrior and that he cared for her. It was how Darius was with her, before she had met him she would have said her own behaviour with him was pathetic but she just didn't care.

'Nothing. Don't be so silly. Something doesn't have to be wrong all of the time. Sometimes things can go right. Even for us.'

He smiled and pulled her into him and hugged her against his chest. 'I worry about you. You know i do.'

Aphrodite saw her smile as she wrapped her arms around him. 'I know. I was just coming to let you know that I was going up to Aphrodite's room'

'Will Darius be there? Or do you want me ?'

'I don't need guarding 24/7, you know?' she joked, nudging him.

'Better to be safe than to be sorry' he joked. She gave him a shove, caught off he stumbled slightly. As he started to fall backwards, Aphrodite saw Zoey put her arm out to try and catch him. She missed and Stark fell.

Aphrodite turned her face away, but she heard the noise as Starks head hit the bath behind him and as he hit the floor. When she looked back, Zoey was crouched down next to him.

Aphrodite went over to them and saw that Starks eyes were open and that he was breathing.

'Is he alright? Should we get a doctor?' she asked.

'No, I'm fine.' Stark said. He put his hand on the edge of the bath and pulled himself up. He stumbled when he was on his feet, but he looked steady. 'You guys go do what you have to do. I'm going to finish my shower without being assaulted.'

Zoey put her hand on his chest, to make sure that he didn't fall. 'I'm so sorry. You sure your alright?' She asked him.

'It's fine. Don't worry. You go save the world.' He bent down and kissed the top of her head.

'I love you' she said as she walked out of the bathroom. When they were leaving she looked back at the bathroom door and saw Stark shutting it. Aphrodite saw the wink that he aimed at Zoey. She knew that she wasn't meant to have seen it, it was one of their intimate moments, and so she let it pass without comment.


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